Lydia Ko is looking to win her third event in a row
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\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\nKo was victorious in last week’s season opener, the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions, as well as winning December’s mixed-team exhibition along with Australia’s Jason Day, the Grant Thornton Invitational.<\/p>\n
“Definitely nice to be able to win the first event of the year, especially because you don’t have anything really to reference your round off or your game,” Ko said.<\/p>\n
“Grant Thornton was only five weeks ago, but that’s a completely different format, and so wasn’t like I was coming in with a ton of really good momentum.<\/p>\n
“But just trying to feed off what was going well last week, and overall I thought I played really solid.”<\/p>\n
Ko rolled in six birdies on a bogey-free day, while Korda’s round was more adventurous.<\/p>\n
Korda brushed off an opening bogey by birdies on the par-4 second and third holes. After another birdie at the par-5 sixth, she went eagle-birdie-birdie from eight to 10 to rise to 6 under.<\/p>\n
She described her eagle at the par-5 eighth as a “tap-in”.<\/p>\n
“I hit my driver really well on this hole. Gosh, I think I had 257 into the pin and hit my 3-wood really good. It was helping off the left. Played it nicely off the slope to a tap-in.”<\/p>\n
She finished her round with a second bogey and her sixth and final birdie.<\/p>\n
“I love every single time I get to play in Florida,” Korda said. “I feel like people come out and support. But it’s better to play literally in your hometown, so definitely felt a lot of the support and it was great.”<\/p>\n
Koerstz Madsen made six birdies and a single bogey for her five-under 66.<\/p>\n
“It was a good day. I played steady golf,” she said. “Missed a green here and there but made an up and down. My approach was just staying – being a little patient out there because it was a grind. I mean, it was a lot of wind out there, so keep it on the high side of the hole.”<\/p>\n
China’s Ruoning Yin, last year’s Women’s PGA Championship winner, opened with a four-under 67, tying for fourth with South Koreans Sei Young Kim and Minji Kang and Thailand’s Chanettee Wannasaen.<\/p>\n
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