CALGARY, Alberta — Lauren Coughlin shot a 4-under 68 on Thursday in chilly and windy situations to take the first-round lead within the CPKC Ladies’s Open.
Fellow American Jennifer Kupcho was a stroke again with Ariya Jutanugarn of Thailand and Australians Minjee Lee and Hannah Inexperienced.
Coughlin opened the spherical that started on No. 11 with eight straight pars, then had 5 birdies and bogey on the ultimate 10 holes with the temperature barely climbing into the 60s at Earl Gray Golf Membership.
“It was quite a bit windier than I used to be anticipating, so simply needed to keep tremendous affected person at first,” Coughlin mentioned. “Sort of began getting some putts dropping. It was robust on the market for positive, however I hit numerous actually good photographs and numerous good putts.”
Winless on the LPGA Tour, the 31-year-old former College of Virginia participant is coming off a fourth-place end two weeks in the past in France within the main Evian Champions.
“Just about ever since Evian I have been hitting the ball extraordinarily properly,” Coughlin mentioned. “To maintain it going, even in an off week, felt actually good. It is simply making an attempt to be myself and have enjoyable, after which see what I shoot.”
Kupcho had 4 birdies and a bogey.
“The climate was a bit loopy,” Kupcho mentioned. “I really feel like we had three totally different seasons in 18 holes. Positively obtained sunny on the finish and that is after I made all my birdies. Actually, simply tried to remain affected person all day.”
Inexperienced is a two-time winner this 12 months, taking the HSBC Ladies’s World Championship in Singapore in February and the JM Eagle LA Championship in April.
“It was tough on the market,” Inexperienced mentioned. “It is good that the solar has peeped out. It was fairly chilly in direction of the center of our spherical. Simply tremendous completely satisfied to complete beneath par this afternoon.”
Three-time champion Lydia Ko of New Zealand topped the group at 70. Ko gained as an novice in 2012 at age 15, efficiently defended her title as an novice in 2013 and gained as an expert in 2015.
“It was chilly. It was windy,” Ko mentioned. “Tuesday, Wednesday was heat and no wind. So, it felt like I used to be enjoying a special golf course. I I knew I wanted to remain affected person.”
Hye-Jin Choi additionally was 70 with Alison Lee, Haeran Ryu, Jenny Shin and Gigi Stoll.
Savannah Grewal and Maude-Aimee Leblanc every shot 71 to high the Canadians within the discipline. Canadian star Brooke Henderson, the 2018 champion, opened with a 72.
“Probably not the recent begin that I needed to get off to, however felt like we fought fairly onerous,” Henderson mentioned. “It was fairly robust on the market this morning. A bit of cooler and really windy.”
Second-ranked Lilia Vu additionally shot 71.
Lexi Thompson had a 72. She plans to play a restricted schedule after this season.
