Ariya Jutanugarn birdies her final hole to take the outright lead.
It’s no surprise that Jutanugarn, who leads the Tour in birdies, was having success with the putter carding 10 birdies in the opening round to take a one-shot lead over Brooke Henderson in the first round of play at the Reignwood LPGA Classic.
“Today I really like want to have fun and enjoy in the course, and just like make sure I do like focus on like what's under my control,” said Jutanugarn of her opening round. “Not worry about the outcome, the result.”
Jutanugarn’s performance this season on the LPGA Tour has been historic with 12 top 10s finishes that includes five wins. The world No.2 swept the month of May winning three events consecutively, picking up her fourth win and first major victory in July at the RICOH Women’s British Open and earning win number five in August at the Canadian Pacific Women's Open.
“Feel good, because like this year the only goal I want to do is I want to win my first tournament, so I did,” explained Jutanugarn. “So after I won my first tournament on tour I really want to win a major, and I did.”
Birdies were dropping in the afternoon for two-time winner this year, Henderson, including back-to-back birdies to finish with a total of seven birdies on the day. Henderson making her debut in China finds herself one shot off the lead in the opening round and will be looking to pick up her third win this season.
“Yeah, for sure. It was an awesome day today, and to get the birdies to finish up on 17,18 were really nice,” said Henderson. “Definitely a good start, so hopefully the next three days will go well.”
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