Out on A Lim: Kim leads the Lotte Championship

South Korea’s A Lim Kim, four years removed from her only LPGA win, shot a 6-under 66 on Wednesday and holds a one-stroke lead after the first round of the Lotte Championship in Ewa Beach, Hawaii.

Five players are tied for second after shooting a 5-under 67 at Hoakalei Country Club: Bianca Pagdanganan of the Philippines, Ruixin Liu of China, Polly Mack of Germany, Perrine Delacour of France and Peiyun Chien from Taiwan.

Canada’s Savannah Grewal, Russia’s Nataliya Guseva and Japan’s Yuri Yoshida are tied for seventh at 4 under. Eleven players share 10th place at 3 under.

Kim, 29, captured the 2020 US Women’s Open at the Champions Club in Houston during her major league debut. He has since finished in the top 10 in majors three times, including a tie for ninth at this year’s Chevron Championship, but has yet to record another victory in any event.

He now sits atop a leaderboard after the first round for the first time since the 2021 Walmart NW Arkansas Championship.

Asked how that would affect her approach, she said: “Same as last week, two weeks ago. My preparation and process, everything is the same, like every week. I’ll focus on speed control, speed control and then wedge numbers game’.

Kim got off to a stellar start on Wednesday, recording an eagle on the par-5 first hole and adding birdies on the third and fifth holes. The rest of her round was more uneven, as she added four birdies and two bogeys.

Pagdanganan also started well, making four birdies and two pars through the first six holes. He was 6 under par through 15 holes before bogey-bogey-birdie.

“The wind picked up a little towards the end of my lap, so that was quite the change,” Pagdanganan said. “Overall, I’m pretty happy with how I played. I took advantage of all the birdies I had, I gave myself a lot of opportunities.

“But at the same time, I was able to play smart out there. Again, with the conditions, it’s easy to get impatient, so making sure I’m smart with every decision I make out there helped me.”

Liu started with three birdies in a row and ended the day with seven birdies and two bogeys.

Delacour carded four straight birdies from No. 2 to No. 5. Mack had a streak of three straight birdies from No. 3 to No. 5, and Chien birdied Nos. 1, 2 and 3.

Defending champion Grace Kim of Australia shot a tie-breaking 72 and is right on the projected cut line.

–Within field level