Pajaree Anannarukarn and Yealimi Noh each carded 6-under 65s on Thursday and share the lead after day one of the Amundi Evian Championship.
Noh opened with a hole-out eagle at the par-4 first hole, and capped her round with a birdie at No. 18.
“I honestly just wanted to finish good because starting off with an eagle is always like, you want to play well and take advantage of that early start,” said Noh, who’s 65 was a career-low round at a major championship.
“It was a little slow at the turn, but then I got some putts in and hit a lot of greens.”
Anannarukarn, meanwhile, finished with six birdies, including a 34-footer on No. 8, in her bogey-free trip around Evian Resort Golf Club.
Like Noh, Anannarukarn shot her major-low round on Thursday and pointed to her short game as the key to success in today’s score.
“I think I’ve been hitting my irons pretty well, too, so that definitely helps, and I made some long putts out there,” said Anannarukarn.
“I was just trying, like again, trying to focus on the speed and what I’ve been working on, and I think it just worked out pretty good.”
Five players were tied for third on 5 under, including another young Thai phenom in 18-year-old Atthaya Thitikul.
“I just play as I played it before in practice rounds,” said Thitikul, who was also bogey-free on Thursday.
“This course, you have to be in the fairway and then it will be easier to get to the pin.”
Thitikul was joined at 5 under by 2018 U.S. Women’s Open champion Jeongeun Lee6, American Lauren Stephenson, Danish star Emily Kristine Pedersen and Japan’s Ayaka Furue.
Three more players round out the top 10 at 4 under, including 2014 Evian champion Hyo-Joo Kim, Thailand’s Ariya Jutanugarn and Australian Sarah Kemp.
Amundi Evian Championship
First-Round Leaderboard: Top-10
Pos-Player-To Par (Rd 1)
1. Pajaree Anannarukarn -6 (65)
1. Yealimi Noh -6 (65)
3. Atthaya Thitikul -5 (66)
3. Jeongeun Lee6 -5 (66)
3. Lauren Stephenson -5 (66)
3. Emily Kristine Pedersen -5 (66)
3. Ayaka Furue -5 (66)
8. Hyo-Joo Kim -4 (67)
8. Ariya Jutanugarn -4 (67)
8. Sarah Kemp -4 (67)
