NORTON — Three golfers are tied for the top spot after Day 1 of the FM Championship at TPC Boston.
Sei Young Kim, Allisen Corpuz and Jodi Ewart Shadoff all shot 7-under to kick off the tournament.
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Kim came out strong with two birdies on the first four holes. She also went bogey-free through the entire course.
“All the birdies make me relax and (have) confidence. If you got the birdies, good momentum, it’s going to be good vibes,” she said. “So I think that every birdie really helps.”
Corpuz birdied on holes 15, 16 and 17 to help propel her to a strong end to the day.
“I had a lot of really good looks and got to convert a lot of them,” she said.
Shadoff birdied on the four final holes to put her in contention with Kim and Corpuz.
For Shadoff, Thursday’s strong first round helped her enjoy golf again.
“For the first time in the last year and a half I kind of feel like I can do it again, so it’s exciting for me,” she said. “I haven’t really enjoyed playing golf over the past year and a half, so today, finally, you know, even the last couple weeks I’ve kind of finally started to enjoy playing and seeing all the signs of my game getting there.”
LPGA rookie Miranda Wang stands alone in fourth place after she shot 6-under. The 26-year-old ended her round strong with eight birdies on the back nine.
“Front nine I was really feeling like I need to warm up and get it going,” she said. “And No. 10 I made a 30-foot putt for birdie, so that really helped me to boost my confidence.”
Nelly Korda — the world’s No. 2 ranked women’s golfer — finished 5-under, as did Celine Boutier, Andrea Lee, Minjee Lee, Madison Young, Emily Kristine Pedersen, WeiWei Zhang, Gurleen Kaur and Madison Young. .
“It was overall a solid day,” Korda said. “No complaints.”
Korda shot well throughout Round 1, finishing wit seven birdies.
“Just the right numbers, right clubs, hit them pretty close. One was a reachable par-5 and the other one I hit a 7-iron on a par-3 to like four, five feet,” she said. “So kind of in a sense stuff going my way where the right clubs were matching up with the right yardages.”
Zhang finished one stroke short of making the cut at the Standard Portland Classic earlier this month. She was happy that wasn’t the case this time around.
“The past few week have been no good,” Zhang said. (I) felt so bad. I just changed my mind this week. I told myself, ‘Just relax, just like walking in the park and don’t think too much. No pressure just relax.’”
Jeeno Thitikul, the worlds’ No. 1 women’s golfer, bogeyed on the final hole to put her at 3-under for Day 1.
Last year’s FM Championship winner, Haeran Ryu, finished the day 3-under. She’ll tee off at 7:55 a.m. on Friday.
Mass. native Megan Khang shot 1-under. She’ll tee off at 8:17 a.m. on Friday.
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