Jiwon Jeon of South Korea sank a hole-in-one on her way to a 6-under-par 64, tying her with England’s Charley Hull for the first-round lead at The Annika on Thursday in Belleair, Fla.
Jeon, remarkably, has hit three holes-in-one during the current LPGA season, but Thursday’s was the first she was able to watch all the way into the hole. At the par-3, 177-yard third hole at Pelican Golf Club, Jeon hit a 5-hybrid.
“I had exactly the same yardage the last hole for the second shot,” Jeon said, “so I was talking to Bruce (Lowe), my caddie, like, ‘Just hit the same shot?’ He was like, ‘Yeah.’ Then I hit it, and then I saw the one bounce and went in the hole. It was very cool to see the hole-in-one actually going into the hole.”
Jeon also had six birdies and two bogeys on her day. She and Hull have a one-shot advantage over Scotland’s Gemma Dryburgh and South Korea’s Mi Hyang Lee at the season’s penultimate event.
It’s a good time for Jeon to be contending for a victory. She entered the week ranked No. 98 in the Race to the CME Globe standings and would shoot up to No. 58 if current results were to hold. At the completion of the tournament, only the top 60 in the points standings will qualify for next week’s CME Group Tour Championship.
“Obviously I’m just inside top 100 right now, and then obviously I want to keep my card for next year, but I try not to think about it too much,” Jeon said. “I literally gave everything for last three days practice. I trying to figure out what I have to do out here and then really focus on like each shot.
“And then I think that work really paid off (Thursday). I want to continue to do the same thing for the rest of the rounds, rest of the tournament.”
Hull, who entered the week No. 52 in the standings, could use a good finish to propel her into the season finale. She sank seven birdies and made just one bogey on Thursday.
Hull hasn’t won in the United States since 2022 but is coming off a win at the Aramco Team Series-Riyadh event on the Ladies European Tour earlier this month.
“I feel like I’ve been playing very, very well all year. Sometimes you just forget how to win,” Hull said. “So that’s kind of reminded me how to win.”
Dryburgh (seven birdies, two bogeys) needs a better finish than T3 to crack the top 60 in the standings. The LPGA website projects her to move 14 spots to 64th at present.
“It is a huge motivation,” Dryburgh said. “Obviously I can’t control what the other girls do. I can control what I do. I will just focus on that the next few days. I know I need a good finish to get into next week, but you never know.”
Nelly Korda, who remains No. 1 in the CME standings, is part of a six-way tie for fifth at 4-under 66. She is joined by Cheyenne Knight, Spain’s Carlota Ciganda, Norway’s Celine Borge, Sweden’s Maja Stark and Australia’s Minjee Lee.
The highlight of Korda’s day came at the end — a chip-in birdie at the par-4 18th, which helped her finish with four birdies over the last five holes.
“(I) practiced that chip a good bit in the two practice rounds I played on the back nine,” Korda said. “Just rolled in perfectly. Happy not to putt.”
Defending champion Lilia Vu opened with a 1-under 69.
Six players did not finish their rounds before play was suspended due to darkness, but none of them stood better than 2 under par.
–Field Level Media