Ko seven shots back at Evian Championship

Chun In Gee and Park Sung Hyun both shot eight-under-par 63 to make it a South Korean double at the top of the leaderboard after the first round of the Evian Championship.

Ko has clearly been the most dominant golfer on a consistent basis over the last two seasons, and considering she won this tournament a year ago it shouldn’t be a surprise that she is the sports betting favorite to win The Evian Championship outright at +400 odds.

Chun, who won the US Women’s Open past year for her first and only win on the LPGA Tour, and Park, the leading light on the Korean LPGA Tour, had impressive eight-birdie rounds.

“I could see the putting lines very well, and I was so good rolling the ball on those lines”, said Chun. “The greens are getting softer this year”.

A win here would clinch the award for either Ko or Ariya, but they face an uphill struggle.

Park finished joint third in the US Women’s Open this year and says she feels quite at home playing alongside the world’s best.

So the three young guns – Ko and Henderson are 19 and Jutanugarn is 20 – are all set for an end of season battle for the LPGA honors, including Player of the Year. The New Zealander is tied for 27th with Stacy Lewis and Ha Na Jang, seven strokes back of the lead. Annie Park, joined by her mom and older sister, hit four landmarks in Paris on a whirlwind half-day tour.

“It’s fun with her on the bag”, Annie said.

Chun said after the round she felt it was the putter that was key to her low score.

Dark clouds and thunderstorms could not cast a shadow on In-Gee Chun’s bid to become rookie of the year on the leading women’s golf tour. She showed good composure in overcast and somewhat drizzly weather conditions on the picturesque course perched over Lake Geneva, enjoying a run of birdie-birdie-eagle on her front nine, then starting and finishing with birdies on the back nine.

Both carded eight-under-par 63 in France, falling just two shots shy of the course record set by 2014 victor Hyo Joo Kim.

When Ko sank her first birdie of the day, a 15-meter effort on the fifth hole, it drew a rueful smile from Pettersen, who had just missed with her birdie attempt from a similar distance.

Gerina Piller, still looking for her first professional win, is tied for eighth at three under with Brittany Lincicome and 21-year-old Jin Young Ko. “It was a good thing my wedge shots or chip shots were good enough where I was able to get off with par”.

Women’s PGA champion Brooke Henderson of Canada ended the day one shot ahead of Ko at 2-under.

Americans Lexi Thompson, last year’s runner-up, two-time major victor Stacy Lewis are also in action. Thailand’s Ariya Jutanugarn, the world number two and victor of the Women’s British Open in July, was playing with Chun, but had a demoralising triple-bogey seven at the 18th, her ninth hole.