On a blustery day where only 22 players broke par, Minjee Lee and Moriya Jutanugarn share the lead at 4-under par at the LOTTE Championship Presented by HERSHEY.
“It helps if you’re a good ball-striker, but also you need to judge the wind well as well, like how far you want to take it right or if the wind is right to left,” Lee explained. “You got to have some luck with it, too. It’s not just all your skill. You never know. Mother Nature can throw anything at you. I think I judged it really well today so I’m happy.”
Jutanugarn credited a relaxed approach for her strong opening round.
“I think I having fun with my game today,” Jutanugarn said. “Trying to play with really like strong wind and try to play different type of shot around; try to get up and down. Feels like I had a lot of patient with the wind today, so pretty good for my game.”
The relaxed approach paid off for Jutanugarn as she tallied seven birdies against a bogey and a double on her round.
“You know, I didn’t even count until I finish,” Jutanugarn said with a laugh. “I was like, Oh, that’s nice, seven birdies. it was fun making birdie with this condition of the wind.”The duo sits a stroke clear of five players - Kim Kaufman, Sei Young Kim, Brooke Henderson, Caroline Masson and Alena Sharp - who all fired opening round 69s.