Yoo Hyun-jo took a one-stroke lead after the opening round of the Iceberg Golf·Seoul Shinmun Open, a newly established KLPGA Tour event with a purse of 1.5 billion won ($1.11 million).
Yoo carded a 5-under-par 67 at H1 Club (par 72, 6,953 yards) in Icheon, Gyeonggi Province on Friday, finishing one stroke ahead of a five-way tie for second that included An Song-i, Song Eun-a, Lee Seung-yeon, Sung Yu-jin and Ma Seo-young. Having claimed her second win of the season at the HJ Shipbuilding & Construction·Dongbu Championship on Sunday, Yoo now has a chance at back-to-back titles and a third win this season.
Yoo's round got off to a spectacular start when she holed out for eagle on the first hole (par 4). Her second shot from 88 meters out landed on the green, rolled about seven meters and dropped into the cup. She gave back a stroke with a bogey on the third hole (par 4) after driving into deep rough, but bounced back immediately with a 4-meter birdie on the fourth. Back-to-back birdies on holes six and seven, followed by a 1-meter birdie on the 17th (par 3), secured her the outright lead.
"I started the round carrying the good feel from last week's win," Yoo said after her round. "Eagling the first hole put me in a great mood right away. I did make a bogey in the middle, but I bounced back quickly and kept the momentum going."
Sung Yu-jin climbed into the five-way tie for second with a 4-under 68, powered by three consecutive birdies on holes 11 through 13. An Song-i, who sits 86th on the money list and is in a precarious position for her tour card, played a clean round — four birdies, no bogeys — including two chip-in birdies.
Money-list leader Kim Min-sol shot a 3-under 69 to share seventh place with Kim Min-ju and Lee Ji-hyun 3. Seo Gyo-rim, who is chasing Kim in the individual title race, struggled to a 7-over 79 and sits in a tie for 96th.
Lee Jeong-eun 6 is tied for 10th at 2-under 70 alongside Lim Hee-jeong, Ko Ji-won, Seo Eo-jin and Yang Seo-hu. Park Sung-hyun opened at 1-under 71, sharing 15th place with Ko Jin-young.
Two of the more anticipated players, however, struggled. Ryu Hae-ran, who won the Hite Jinro Championship two weeks ago, made four bogeys on her way to a 4-over 76 and is tied for 76th alongside Yoon I-na. Yoon picked up two birdies on the front nine but dropped shots with two bogeys and two double bogeys on the back.
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