Six weeks after earning her initial LPGA victory, Akie Iwai sits in first place after the opening round of the Lotte Championship in Ewa Beach, Hawaii.
The 23-year-old Japan native shot an 8-under-par 64 on Wednesday at Hoakalei Country Club to hold a one-stroke lead over Taiwan’s Peiyun Chien, Australia’s Gabriela Ruffels and Japan’s Nasa Hataoka.
The Thai duo of Pornanong Phatlum and Patty Tavatanakit share fifth place with South Korea’s A Lim Kim, the defending champion, at 66. Jessica Porvasnik and South Koreans Youmin Hwang and Sung Hyun Park are tied for eighth place at 67.
Iwai opened the tournament on the back nine and birdied three of her first four holes. She added two more birdies on either side of the turn, then birdied four out of five from No. 4 to No. 8 before making her lone bogey of the day at No. 9.
“Everything felt good, so my driver was all consistent,” said Iwai, who won the Standard Portland Classic in mid-August. “Yeah, and then played good and (the) putting was good. … I’m looking forward to tomorrow, too.”
Ruffels had a start that was similar to Iwai’s. She started on the back nine and ran off four birdies over the opening five holes, though she mixed in one bogey. Ruffels added another four birdies.
“I feel like I’m playing better golf as the season is kind of closing,” said Ruffels, who is 66th in the Race to CME Globe points list and needs to get to No. 60 to qualify for the season-ending championship. “Kind of had a rough start the first couple of events of the season, but I feel like my game is kind of getting there.
“Yeah, today was a really good one.”
Chien’s bogey-free round featured four birdies on the front nine and three on the back nine.
Hataoka was 1 under at the turn after playing the back nine, then had a string of five consecutive birdies. She bogeyed No. 6 but rebounded to birdie Nos. 7 and 9.
“Back side, I (was) hitting great putts, so that’s why I (shot a) low score today,” Hataoka said.
World No. 2 Nelly Korda shot a 69 and is tied for 25th place.
