Yuri Yoshida & Karis Davidson Share First-Round Lead at the 2026 BMW Ladies Championship

• Yuri Yoshida and Karis Davidson lead the BMW Ladies Championship.
• Haeran Ryu, Lucy Li, Lauren Coughlin and Julia López Ramirez are tied for third.
• Defending champion Sei Young Kim opened with an even-par 72.

Yuri Yoshida and Karis Davidson share the first-round lead at the BMW Ladies Championship after both shot 6-under 66s at Pine Beach Golf Links, south-west of Gwangju. Neither has won on the LPGA Tour yet.

Yoshida’s round had no bogeys. The Japanese player made six birdies and hit 16 of 18 greens to lead an LPGA event after 18 holes for the first time. It was her best opening round of the season and her lowest score in this tournament. She was runner-up to Miyu Yamashita at the CPKC Women’s Open in August.

“Just perfect golf. I mean, bit different conditions from last week but I could adjust to it,” said Yoshida.

Davidson started on the 10th. The Australian made six birdies on the front nine, her second nine of the day, then dropped a shot at the 9th, her final hole. Her eight birdies matched Lucy Li for the most in the field, and her 66 was her best opening round since the 65 she shot at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship in June. She has led after the first round of an LPGA event once before, at the 2023 ISPS Handa World Invitational.

“No, I just stuck to my lines. Even the 9th hole kind of cost me a bogey because I was too cautious with my line and then the putt was really tricky. So no, just sort of stuck to the plan,” Davidson said, when asked whether she gets more aggressive with her irons when she is hitting them well.

Ryu heads the chasing pack

World No. 3 Haeran Ryu, who won back-to-back majors at the KPMG Women’s PGA and the Evian this summer, shot a bogey-free 67. She hit 17 greens, tied with Angel Yin for the most in the field, and made birdie at the 5th, the only green she missed, by chipping in.

Alongside Ryu on 5-under are Americans Lucy Li and Lauren Coughlin and Spain’s Julia López Ramirez. Coughlin made all seven of her birdies in her last 13 holes in spite of a double bogey on her card. Li made eight birdies and three bogeys to break 70 in a first round for the first time this season.

López Ramirez, a rookie on Europe’s winning Solheim Cup team last month, led the field in driving distance at 287.5 yards. She closed with a 66 here last year and has played her last two rounds at Pine Beach in 11-under.

“I think it’s very important out here to hit lots of fairways and lots of greens, and I think that’s going to give you the answer. I think the most important thing I think right now is just keep having my fun and try to keep my mind in a really good place,” said López Ramirez.

Lottie Woad, the world No. 7 and another of Europe’s Solheim Cup winners, opened with a 69. Defending champion Sei Young Kim, whose win here in 2025 ended a five-year drought, shot 72.

Ruoning Yin, who won in Shanghai last week, is not in the 83-player, no-cut field. That victory made her the third player this season to pass $3 million in official prize money, after Nelly Korda ($6.2 million) and Ryu ($4.5 million).

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