Hye-Jin Choi & Minami Katsu Share Lead at The ANNIKA With Record-Tying 61s

• Hye-Jin Choi and Minami Katsu share the first-round lead at The ANNIKA.
• Lindy Duncan is third, one shot back, after a 62 that included a hole-in-one.
• World No. 1 Nelly Korda is fourth after a bogey-free 63.

Hye-Jin Choi and Minami Katsu each shot a bogey-free 9-under 61 on Thursday to share the first-round lead at The ANNIKA driven by Gainbridge at Pelican, the final event of the LPGA Tour’s regular season at Pelican Golf Club in Belleair, Florida.

Both matched the tournament’s 18-hole record, set by Amy Yang with a bogey-free 61 in the third round in 2023. This is only the second time this season that two players have shot 61 or better in the same round. The first was at the Ford Championship in March, where Lydia Ko shot 60 and Hyo Joo Kim 61.

Choi keeps knocking

Choi’s nine birdies gave her a career-low round on the LPGA Tour. It is her lowest score since a closing 62 at the 2024 Buick LPGA Shanghai and her fourth round of 66 or better in the past month. She was one of 11 players to go bogey-free.

“I think if you miss the green on this course it’s going to be really difficult and it’s hard to make a good par save,” said Choi. “But I really kept on the greens, so I made a bogey-free round.”

The South Korean is still waiting for her first LPGA Tour title. Last month she led after each of the first three rounds in Shanghai before losing by a stroke to Ruoning Yin, then shared second at the BMW Ladies Championship a week later.

Katsu does not miss a fairway

Katsu went out in the afternoon wave and posted her lowest round of the season without missing a fairway. Her 61 equals her career low, first set in the second round of the 2025 Buick LPGA Shanghai. The Japanese player tied for seventh here in 2023.

“On this course, it’s important to hit the fairway. I focused on doing what I needed to do and making sure to get the ball on the fairway first,” said Katsu.

Korda two behind

Korda missed one fairway and one green in her first LPGA Tour round since the FM Championship in August, making seven birdies for her seventh bogey-free round of the season. The three-time winner at Pelican has now opened with 66 or better in four of her seven appearances, and she won on each of the previous three occasions.

She arrived one point short of the LPGA Hall of Fame, and a win this week would earn it.

“It feels great,” said Korda. “Definitely when you’re playing out and practicing there is not as much I would say pressure, but it was nice to kind of feel those juices flowing again, especially playing with Hye-Jin who just had a great round today.”

Two aces at the 3rd

The par-3 3rd produced two holes-in-one, both struck with a 6-iron from 163 yards. Allisen Corpuz made the first, her second career ace and her first since 2022.

Duncan followed in the afternoon to go birdie-birdie-ace to start. It was her second career hole-in-one and her first since 2019. Her 62 equals her lowest raw score on Tour, and her 22 putts were the fewest in the field.

“The start was incredible. I’ve never been 4-under through three, that’s for sure,” said Duncan. “I have so many family and friends out watching and they were going crazy. We had to actually try to get them to calm down a little because the holes are pretty close together out here.”

The 13-year Tour member began the week at No. 74 in the Race to the CME Globe. The top 60 LPGA members, plus ties, after this week reach next week’s CME Group Tour Championship and its $11 million purse.

Ina Yoon, Nicole Broch Estrup, Julia Lopez Ramirez and Jing Yan share fifth at 6-under after 64s. Defending champion Linn Grant made putting changes before the event and bogeyed three of her first five holes, then made five birdies for a 68.

Related: Portugal’s Silver Coast Named World’s Best Emerging Golf Destination as Praia D’El Rey Makes It Three in a Row

Four contrasting courses within 10 kilometres of each other, an hour north of Lisbon, earned the region a global title in Cairo.

For the latest news in the golfing world, follow us on X.

The ANNIKA Leaderboard