Shannon Tan’s hole-in-one at Women’s PGA Championship

In Minnesota Yoon conjured five birdies in a three-under 69 to push her lead to five strokes, while Nelly Korda was six adrift in her bid for a third straight Major title.

Yoon, whose 63 on June 25 matched the lowest first round in the history of the event, built a 36-hole total of 12-under 132 to claim the lead.

“This is actually my first time being lead going into the weekend,” Yoon said. “It’s actually really nice experience for me. I’m so excited to play last two more days.

“The remaining two days will obviously be nerve-racking, but being nervous is human nature, and I think I want to embrace that and focus on what I can in my shots.”

South Korea’s Ryu Hae-ran fired eight birdies in a superb eight-under 64 to charge into a group of four players sharing second on seven-under 137.

World No. 1 Korda, seeking to become just the third LPGA player to win the first three Majors of the season after her victories in the Chevron Championship and US Women’s Open, posted a four-under 68 and was tied on six-under 138 with South Korean Lee Dong-eun, who signed for a 69.

Yoon added that she tried not to look at the leaderboard as she opened the round with a two-shot lead. Four birdies in the first eight holes stretched her lead to as many as seven, but she slowed coming in with two bogeys and one birdie.

The 23-year-old is thriving in her second year on the LPGA tour after serving a suspension on the KLPGA circuit for playing the wrong ball at the 2022 Korea Women’s Open and failing to declare it.

Ryu, the 2023 LPGA Rookie of the Year and a three-time winner on the tour, was delighted with her “amazing” round, which featured four birdies on each side and a dazzling display on the greens, including birdie putts of 23 feet at the third and 18 feet at the fourth.

She was joined on seven-under by fellow South Korean Kim A-lim, Canadian Brooke Henderson, and Japan’s Nasa Hataoka.

Korda, who trailed by seven after the first round of the US Women’s Open and went on to win, had four birdies in her first nine holes but developed “a case of the hooks” coming in.

She said of her chase to Yoon: “I’m just going to focus on, as boring as it is, one shot at a time and see where that takes me.

“It’s just golf. It’s funny right? It always kind of humbles you, and you’re always scratching your head a little bit in some ways.” AFP