Chella Choi fired a 6-under 66 on Thursday to take a one-shot lead heading into the second round at the Manulife LPGA Classic. Choi, who had one bogey on a near prefect day at Whistle Bear Golf Club, leads In Gee Chun, Dani Holmqvist, Brittany Lang and Azahara Munoz.
Choi, who won the Marathon Classic presented by Owens Corning & O-I in 2015, is looking for her second victory on Tour. The Korea native said she felt good today and has been working on her driver recently. Choi is ranked 18th on Tour in driving accuracy (75.56%) and 90th in average driving distance (252.27).
“Pretty good,” said Choi. “A lot of wind today, but my game is good and driving is good, shot was good, so I made a lot of birdies.”
She’s coming off a top-10 finish of T-7 at last week’s Canadian Pacific Women’s Open and attributes her play on the hard work she put in the past several weeks.
“I worked really hard the last three weeks,” said Choi. “So I want to hit straight and strong my drive four days, so I focus on just my driving four days strong drive. So I don’t know. First good, so that’s why my driving is better, so game is more easier than before.”
Defending champ Suzann Pettersen (69) sits in a tie for 17th alongside Alena Sharp and Maude-Aimee Leblanc the low Canadians.