LPGA Drive On Championship R1

March 04-07
Golden Ocala Golf Club, Ocala, Florida
$1,500,000
Round 2, Round 3, Round 4

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One week after her fourth career victory, Nelly Korda shot a bogey-free, 5-under par 67 in the first round of the LPGA Drive On Championship presented by Volvik at Golden Ocala. She has now shot under par in nine straight rounds to open the 2021 season, and has had 10 consecutive under-par rounds dating back to the 2020 CME Group Tour Championship.

“I’m more about consistency,” said Korda after hitting 12 greens in regulation on Thursday and 10 of 14 fairways. “I know there are going to be bad rounds and you can’t play perfect every single round, but the more you minimize your mistakes and more consistent you get with your swing, figuring out what works for you, the better.”

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“I told my caddie [Jason McDede] that the people who win back-to-back events, props to them,” said Korda. “It is so mentally exhausting. I just take it one week at a time. Small goals eventually build to your big goals.”

Tied alongside Korda for the lead are Austin Ernst and Jennifer Kupcho who struggled on the back nine having to play with blurred vision due to a recurring migraine.

“It’s pretty bad,” said Kupcho after her round. “Even right now everything is really blurry. I can’t really see anything over to the left. So, yeah, it’s definitely really hard. I pretty much just lean on my caddie a lot, just trust him and try to do the best that I can.”

“Usually, the blurriness goes away within 45 minutes, but they kind of come on at any point. I was standing over a shot and that’s when it kicked in. I never really know.”

Playing in a featured group with Nelly Korda were sister Jessica and World Number 1 Jin Young Ko.

Jessica fired six birdies and a bogey as well as a double-bogey at the par-3 11th to close with a 69 and a tie for sixth with nine other players.

Ko started her round with a birdie followed by two back-to-back bogeys and two more birdies on the front nine to make the turn in 35 but made four more bogeys on the back nine to close with a 75, her highest start on Tour since a 77 at Hazeltine in the 2019 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship.

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Pos.	Player	To Par	R1
T1	Austin Ernst	-5	67
T1	Nelly Korda	-5	67
T1	Jennifer Kupcho	-5	67
T4	Jaye Marie Green *	-4	68
T4	Jing Yan *	-4	68
T6	Lindy Duncan	-3	69
T6	Mi Jung Hur	-3	69
T6	Megan Khang	-3	69
T6	Katherine Kirk	-3	69
T6	Lydia Ko *	-3	69
T6	Jessica Korda	-3	69
T6	Jeongeun Lee6 *	-3	69
T6	Gaby Lopez *	-3	69
T6	Leona Maguire	-3	69
T6	Mariah Stackhouse	-3	69
T16	Brittany Altomare	-2	70
T16	Ashleigh Buhai	-2	70
T16	In Gee Chun	-2	70
T16	Jenny Coleman *	-2	70
T16	Dani Holmqvist	-2	70
T16	Bronte Law *	-2	70
T16	Yu Liu *	-2	70
T16	Caroline Masson *	-2	70
T16	Jane Park	-2	70
T16	Mel Reid	-2	70
T16	Jennifer Song	-2	70
T16	Patty Tavatanakit *	-2	70
T16	Albane Valenzuela	-2	70
T29	Tiffany Chan *	-1	71
T29	Carlota Ciganda *	-1	71
T29	Perrine Delacour *	-1	71
T29	Ally Ewing *	-1	71
T29	Cheyenne Knight	-1	71
T29	Stacy Lewis	-1	71
T29	Stephanie Meadow *	-1	71
T29	Ryann O’Toole *	-1	71
T29	Annie Park	-1	71
T29	Madelene Sagstrom *	-1	71
T29	Sarah Schmelzel *	-1	71
T29	Angel Yin *	-1	71
T41	Aditi Ashok	E	72
T41	Nicole Broch Larsen *	E	72
T41	Ssu-Chia Cheng *	E	72
T41	Daniela Darquea *	E	72
T41	Danielle Kang	E	72
T41	Sarah Kemp *	E	72
T41	Sei Young Kim *	E	72
T41	Xiyu Lin	E	72
T41	Mind Muangkhumsakul *	E	72
T41	Elizabeth Szokol *	E	72
T41	Lindsey Weaver	E	72
T41	Anne van Dam *	E	72
T53	Celine Boutier *	1	73
T53	Sarah Burnham *	1	73
T53	Jennifer Chang *	1	73
T53	Wei-Ling Hsu	1	73
T53	Jiwon Jeon *	1	73
T53	Tiffany Joh	1	73
T53	Haeji Kang	1	73
T53	Nanna Koerstz Madsen *	1	73
T53	Wichanee Meechai *	1	73
T53	Azahara Munoz	1	73
T53	Liz Nagel	1	73
T53	Sung Hyun Park *	1	73
T53	Hee Young Park	1	73
T66	Marina Alex *	2	74
T66	Pajaree Anannarukarn *	2	74
T66	Cydney Clanton	2	74
T66	Georgia Hall	2	74
T66	Mina Harigae *	2	74
T66	Brooke M. Henderson *	2	74
T66	Esther Henseleit	2	74
T66	Charley Hull	2	74
T66	Cristie Kerr	2	74
T66	Brittany Lang *	2	74
T66	Jaclyn Lee	2	74
T66	Yealimi Noh	2	74
T66	Anna Nordqvist	2	74
T66	Sophia Popov *	2	74
T66	Robynn Ree *	2	74
T66	Jenny Shin	2	74
T66	Lauren Stephenson	2	74
T66	Jasmine Suwannapura *	2	74
T66	Lexi Thompson *	2	74
T66	Maria Torres *	2	74
T86	Laura Davies *	3	75
T86	Dana Finkelstein	3	75
T86	Kristen Gillman *	3	75
T86	Nasa Hataoka	3	75
T86	Caroline Inglis *	3	75
T86	Eun-Hee Ji *	3	75
T86	Jin Young Ko	3	75
T86	Mi Hyang Lee	3	75
T86	Haley Moore	3	75
T86	Haru Nomura *	3	75
T86	Pornanong Phatlum *	3	75
T86	Lizette Salas *	3	75
T86	Alena Sharp *	3	75
T86	Angela Stanford	3	75
T100	Chella Choi	4	76
T100	Maria Fassi *	4	76
T100	Sandra Gal	4	76
T100	Jillian Hollis *	4	76
T100	Esther Lee *	4	76
T100	Brittany Lincicome	4	76
T100	Laura Restrepo	4	76
T100	Marissa Steen *	4	76
T100	Emma Talley	4	76
T100	Suzuka Yamaguchi	4	76
T100	Amy Yang	4	76
T111	Gerina Piller *	5	77
T111	Sarah Jane Smith	5	77
T113	Pernilla Lindberg *	6	78
T113	Jackie Stoelting	6	78
T115	Caroline Hedwall	7	79
T115	Katherine Perry-Hamski	7	79
T115	Linnea Strom	7	79
T115	Alana Uriell *	7	79
119	Giulia Molinaro	9	81
120	Muni He *	10	82
* Player started on the back nine