Peiyun Chien shot a 5-under 67 featuring six birdies in the opening round of the Chevron Championship to take a one-shot lead.
When it's your day, it's just your day! @pyc_money takes the lead at 5-under pic.twitter.com/1DHtmGK6An
— LPGA (@LPGA) April 20, 2023
“It feels so hard. We're doing very well today, just focused on what I want, what we want, and which way we can miss. I think we did very well today,” said the Taiwanese player.
World number 2 Nelly Korda is tied in second place at 4-under alongside fellow Americans Marina Alex, Lilia Vu, Angel Yin and Brittany Lincicome. Also tied in second place are South Korea's Chella Choi, Japan's Ayaka Furue, Australia's Stephanie Kyriacou and Spain's Carlota Ciganda.
“I took advantage of the par-5s today," said Korda. "I think I birdied them all, so that was important, as I'm a bit of a longer hitter. Overall I played pretty well. It was nice to finish the way I did with just a tap-in birdie, but made a couple mistakes here and there where it was more of the yardage where I was a little too aggressive and I left myself a little short-sided chip, and with the rain that we got during the delay, I wasn't sure how it was going to react, bump-and-running it or flopping it. Just made a couple of mistakes there, but that's a given at a major championship.”
Incredible form 🤯@NellyKorda wraps up the first round at @Chevron_Golf with a close approach shot and a 4-under 68. pic.twitter.com/YfIbFDHm3V
— LPGA (@LPGA) April 21, 2023
The event is taking place at The Club at Carlton Woods in Texas this year after being unable to find a sponsor to continue playing at Mission Hills.
Play was suspended for almost an hour at 3:38pm due to thunderstorms in the area.