Kia Classic R1

Kia Classic 2021 R1
March 25-28
Aviara Golf Club, Carlsbad, California
$1,800,000
Round 2, Round 3, Round 4

---

Estimated reading time: 7 minutes

20-time LPGA Tour winner Inbee Park posted a bogey-free, 6-under 66 on Thursday to take the opening lead, the eighth time in her storied career that she has either held or shared an 18-hole lead.

Kia Classic 2021 R1

“Really happy with the round today, especially I putted really good on these greens,” said Park, who finished her round in 27 putts. “I know it’s going to be a test of some patience with the putting greens and obviously, being my first week out, I am probably a little bit rusty.”

“I’m just trying to get the tournament feeling going for the next three days. If results are good, it’s great, but if not, I’m just warming up. It’s a good warmup for a first day.”

Kia Classic 2021 R1

Park’s average finish in the event is 10th. She has never missed a cut in eleven starts, and finished runner-up three times. Her worst result was a tie for twenty first in 2017.

“The course is not overly long and I hit quite a few short irons into the greens so I get opportunities for birdies,” said Park. “It’s just a matter of holing some putts out here. With poa annua greens, it’s really tough to get the speed and break right. I seem to do quite well on these greens.” 

Kia Classic 2021 R1

Hyo Joo Kim, who has not played on the LPGA since the 2019 CME Group Tour Championship, fired eight birdies on her way to a 5-under 67.

“I think I was able to get a lot of birdies because of the first hole where I bogeyed and after the bogey, I told myself to focus a lot more,” said Kim. “I also made a lot of mistakes today that I shouldn’t have. Tomorrow, I’m looking forward to not making as many mistakes and having a great round.”

Stephanie Meadow is tied at 4-under alongside In Gee Chun, Sophia Popov and Mel Reid.

“Hopefully I don’t finish like I did in 2019,” said Meadow, who opened with a 5-under 67 and then went 4-over on the weekend. “I like this golf course. I feel like if you hit good golf shots you will be rewarded, and if you don’t hit it in the fairway it’s really penalizing, so that kind of plays into the strength of my game. It’s a pretty walk, gorgeous course and just easy to be happy out there.”

Kia Classic 2021 R1

Hyo Joo Kim, who has not played on the LPGA since the 2019 CME Group Tour Championship, fired eight birdies on her way to a 5-under 67.

Making her first start on the LPGA Tour since June 2019 at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, Michelle Wie West found a birdie but then battled to a 9-over 81. Local favorite Haley Moore, a native of Escondido, Calif., is 3-over following round one and defending champion Nasa Hataoka finds herself tied for 135th at 7-over. In her first start as a LPGA Tour Member, 2020 U.S. Women’s Open champion A Lim Kim shot 6-over and is tied for 127th.

Kia Classic 2021 R1

Pos.	Player	To Par	R1
1	Inbee Park	-6	66
2	Hyo Joo Kim	-5	67
T3	In Gee Chun	-4	68
T3	Stephanie Meadow	-4	68
T3	Sophia Popov	-4	68
T3	Mel Reid *	-4	68
T7	Mina Harigae *	-3	69
T7	Amy Yang	-3	69
T9	Celine Boutier	-2	70
T9	Nicole Broch Larsen *	-2	70
T9	Ashleigh Buhai	-2	70
T9	Kristen Gillman *	-2	70
T9	Danielle Kang	-2	70
T9	Christina Kim *	-2	70
T9	Azahara Munoz	-2	70
T9	Jasmine Suwannapura	-2	70
T17	Wei-Ling Hsu	-1	71
T17	Mi Jung Hur	-1	71
T17	Eun-Hee Ji *	-1	71
T17	Jin Young Ko *	-1	71
T17	Bronte Law *	-1	71
T17	Brittany Lincicome	-1	71
T17	Pernilla Lindberg	-1	71
T17	Anna Nordqvist *	-1	71
T17	Gerina Piller *	-1	71
T17	Jenny Shin *	-1	71
T17	Elizabeth Szokol *	-1	71
T17	Patty Tavatanakit *	-1	71
T29	Jennifer Chang *	E	72
T29	Jenny Coleman	E	72
T29	Ally Ewing *	E	72
T29	Jiwon Jeon	E	72
T29	Sarah Kemp *	E	72
T29	Sei Young Kim	E	72
T29	Cheyenne Knight	E	72
T29	Mi Hyang Lee	E	72
T29	Minjee Lee *	E	72
T29	Leona Maguire *	E	72
T29	Giulia Molinaro	E	72
T29	Liz Nagel *	E	72
T29	Yealimi Noh	E	72
T29	Jane Park	E	72
T29	Annie Park *	E	72
T29	Madelene Sagstrom	E	72
T29	Sarah Schmelzel *	E	72
T29	Yujeong Son *	E	72
T29	Mariah Stackhouse	E	72
T29	Lexi Thompson *	E	72
T29	Ayako Uehara *	E	72
T50	Marina Alex *	1	73
T50	Ssu-Chia Cheng *	1	73
T50	Cydney Clanton	1	73
T50	Hannah Green	1	73
T50	Brooke M. Henderson *	1	73
T50	Dani Holmqvist	1	73
T50	Caroline Inglis	1	73
T50	Ariya Jutanugarn	1	73
T50	In Kyung Kim	1	73
T50	Brittany Lang	1	73
T50	Esther Lee *	1	73
T50	Stacy Lewis	1	73
T50	Haru Nomura *	1	73
T50	Emma Talley	1	73
T50	Maria Torres *	1	73
T50	Jing Yan	1	73
T66	Brittany Altomare	2	74
T66	Aditi Ashok *	2	74
T66	Chella Choi *	2	74
T66	Perrine Delacour *	2	74
T66	Juli Inkster	2	74
T66	Moriya Jutanugarn	2	74
T66	Lydia Ko *	2	74
T66	Nanna Koerstz Madsen *	2	74
T66	Andrea Lee	2	74
T66	Roberta Liti	2	74
T66	Caroline Masson *	2	74
T66	Sung Hyun Park *	2	74
T66	Katherine Perry-Hamski	2	74
T66	Pornanong Phatlum	2	74
T66	So Yeon Ryu *	2	74
T66	Maia Schechter	2	74
T66	Alana Uriell *	2	74
Projected Cut: ( +2 )
T83	Dana Finkelstein *	3	75
T83	Muni He	3	75
T83	Nelly Korda *	3	75
T83	Jennifer Kupcho *	3	75
T83	Mirim Lee *	3	75
T83	Jeongeun Lee6	3	75
T83	Xiyu Lin	3	75
T83	Gaby Lopez *	3	75
T83	Wichanee Meechai	3	75
T83	Haley Moore *	3	75
T83	Amy Olson	3	75
T83	Lizette Salas *	3	75
T83	Alena Sharp	3	75
T83	Sarah Jane Smith	3	75
T83	Jennifer Song	3	75
T83	Angela Stanford *	3	75
T83	Albane Valenzuela	3	75
T100	Sarah Burnham *	4	76
T100	Matilda Castren *	4	76
T100	Tiffany Chan	4	76
T100	Carlota Ciganda *	4	76
T100	Daniela Darquea	4	76
T100	Maria Fassi *	4	76
T100	Sandra Gal *	4	76
T100	Charley Hull	4	76
T100	Haeji Kang *	4	76
T100	Cristie Kerr	4	76
T100	Megan Khang *	4	76
T100	Jaclyn Lee	4	76
T100	Ryann O’Toole	4	76
T100	Morgan Pressel *	4	76
T100	Robynn Ree *	4	76
T100	Jackie Stoelting *	4	76
T116	Na Yeon Choi	5	77
T116	Jaye Marie Green	5	77
T116	Tiffany Joh	5	77
T116	Lauren Kim	5	77
T116	Mo Martin *	5	77
T116	Hee Young Park *	5	77
T116	Linnea Strom *	5	77
T116	Lindsey Weaver	5	77
T116	Suzuka Yamaguchi	5	77
T116	Anne van Dam	5	77
T126	Georgia Hall *	6	78
T126	A Lim Kim	6	78
T126	Min Seo Kwak	6	78
T126	Mind Muangkhumsakul *	6	78
T126	Su Oh *	6	78
T126	Paula Reto *	6	78
T126	Lauren Stephenson *	6	78
T126	Angel Yin	6	78
T134	Pajaree Anannarukarn *	7	79
T134	Lindy Duncan *	7	79
T134	Austin Ernst	7	79
T134	Nasa Hataoka *	7	79
T134	Jeongeun Lee *	7	79
T134	Yu Liu *	7	79
T134	Kelly Tan *	7	79
141	Jillian Hollis	8	80
142	Michelle Wie West	9	81
T143	Katherine Kirk	10	82
T143	Yani Tseng *	10	82
* Player started on the back nine