Founders Cup 2021 R1
October 07-10
Mountain Ridge Country Club, West Caldwell, New Jersey
$3,000,000
Round 2, Round 3, Round 4

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

Defending champion Jin Young Ko, who has held the title for 928 days due to the pandemic, tied her season-low round of 8-under 63 to take the lead of the Cognizant Founders Cup, being held at the Mountain Ridge Country Club for the first time.

Founders Cup 2021 R1

“I had great round today. I was little sad last week on Sunday, so I was thinking like keep it all for my putting this week, and I had great putting today,” said Ko, who finished second in last week's ShopRite LPGA Classic. “I got nine birdies today and one bogey, but, yeah, still pretty good.”

Ko is aiming to average fewer than 30 putts per round this week, a benchmark she shattered on Thursday with just 25 putts. “It's going to be like 4-, 5-under each day, so it's going to be a win,” she said smiling.

Founders Cup 2021 R1

Germany's Sandra Gal carded a bogey-free 66 to take solo second place at 5-under. It was her best round since a first-round 66 at the 2019 Walmart NW Arkansas Championship, and her first round in the 60s since the first round of the 2020 Trust Golf Women's Scottish Open.

“I feel very good. I came into the tournament striking it really nicely,” said Gal, who has been balancing playing golf and battling dormant Lyme Disease for the last three years. “It's kind of been building up the last few weeks, but until you see the results on the course you just got to play, play, play.”

Founders Cup 2021 R1

Six players are tied for third at 4-under, including Rolex Rankings number 1 Nelly Korda, playing in her first stroke-play event since the AIG Women's Open in late August.

Brooke Henderson joins her in third place after racing to the 18th tee to make sure her group could finish before play was called due to darkness.

“We tried to get our round finished and I'm glad we did,” said Henderson, who finished her round at 6:50 p.m. “It was definitely dark coming up 18 and on the putting green I was really just counting on the pace to know how hard to hit it.”

Heavy fog caused a 90-minute delay on Thursday morning and play was suspended due to darkness at 6:34 p.m. with 30 players still to finish their rounds. First-round play will resume Friday at 7:15 a.m., with the second round beginning at 7:30 a.m.

Founders Cup 2021 R1