Ashleigh Buhai of South Africa set the early pace at the Kroger Queen City Championship with a 7-under-par 65 in the first round Thursday in Maineville, Ohio.
Buhai racked up eight birdies and carries a one-shot lead into Friday. Jeeno Thitikul of Thailand and Yan Liu of China are at 6-under 66 after their first round through TPC River’s Bend, which is hosting the tournament for the first time.
The group tied at 5-under 67 includes World No. 1 Nelly Korda, Olympic gold medalist Lydia Ko of New Zealand and Leona Maguire of Ireland. Also part of that tie are Savannah Grewal of Canada, Jasmine Suwannapura of Thailand, Peiyun Chien of Taiwan, Polly Mack of Germany and Angel Yin.
For now, they’re all looking up at Buhai, the 2022 Women’s Open champion with 22 professional wins worldwide, most of them in her native South Africa.
“I hit it great, putted well. That tends to add up to what it did,” Buhai said. “Yeah, I think I was just smart with when I could attack. At the same time, play to spaces.
“There were a few pins out there where you had to still try to be aggressive, and the greens got a little firm and ran through, but then made some good up and downs to keep me in it.”
Buhai birdied the par-3 16th hole to move to 7-under before carding her lone bogey at the following hole. She made up for it at No. 18, a par-5, with her final birdie of the day.
She said she liked how TPC River’s Bend had three reachable par-5 holes.
“I’m not long. I’m probably average out here and I could get up to three of the par-5s, which was kind of nice for a change,” Buhai said. “So I think it is set up to go low, but at the same time, there were some pretty tricky pins out there that were front and kind of downwind and you ended up being long and I just had to take that and chip back.”
Thitikul, 21, is a former World No. 1 but is searching for her first individual LPGA win in two years. She teamed up with China’s Ruoning Yin to win the Dow Championship, the tour’s lone team event, in June.
“I think why I play well is also my mindset is kind of relaxed,” Thitikul said. “So just kind of make me like playing good, not like put pressure on myself that much.”
Thitikul played her round with Korda, who hit all 14 fairways in regulation and played a bogey-free round. It’s her first action since helping the United States defeat Team Europe in the Solheim Cup.
“Everyone that played last week is going to be tired,” Korda said. “I’m just trying to take it one step at a time, know that my energy levels aren’t the greatest, but I’m still motivated and 100 percent.”
Ko also went bogey-free Thursday and is playing for the first time since winning the Women’s Open just two weeks after her Olympic triumph.
“I think my husband and I kind of turn to each other at times and go, ‘Wow, I can’t believe you won the Olympics and then the AIG Women’s Open.’ So it was kind of like being punched in the face twice in a very good way,” Ko quipped. “Obviously very grateful.”
Australia’s Minjee Lee, the defending champion, opened with a 1-under 71.