Mi Hyang Lee of South Korea carded a 4-under-par 67 to take a one-stroke lead over Morgan Pressel midway through the Evian Championship, the final LPGA Tour major of the year, at Evian Resort Golf Club in Evian-les-Bains, France.
Lee, who shared the first-round lead with Lexi Thompson at 66, made three birdies in a span of four holes at the end of the front nine and held a two-stroke lead until making her only bogey of the day on the 18th hole.
She credited her caddie, veteran Mike Harig, who began working with her in July.
“He’s the oldest caddie on the Tour,” said Lee, whose only LPGA Tour victory came in the 2014 Mizuno Classic. “He has a lot of experience, so that’s a lot of help for me.
“I want to play, just I want to concentrate for one shot, so I don’t want to think the score, because a little nervous for me. So yeah, just I want to try just by one shot (at a time). I want to win at the major tournaments, so I think I did more concentration .”
Pressel started with a bogey on the 10th hole before reeling off eight birdies in posting the low round of the tournament, a 65.
She birdied five of the last seven holes on the back nine and three of the last seven while finishing on the front.
“I got off to a poor start today, bogeying the first hole, but it was raining and it was kind of chilly, and I didn’t let that bother me and just kept trying to plug along and make more birdies as the day progressed, and was able to do so,” said Pressel, whose only major victory came in the 2007 Kraft Nabisco Championship.
“If you are on and hit your targets, especially on these greens, you can have short putts for birdies. But if you miss it, sometimes by a couple feet, it could spell double bogey. You’ve got to be on this week, especially with your ball-striking, and I think that’s why you see such a discrepancy in the scores.”
Nicole Broch Larsen of Norway, coming off a victory in the Helingsborg Open in Sweden last week, was one shot back in third after a 67, followed another stroke behind by Shanshan Feng of China, who had a 68.
Thompson struggled to a 72, making her only birdie on the 14th hole, and was five shots back in a tie for fifth with Lydia Ko (69) of New Zealand, Pornanong Phatlum (71) of Thailand and three South Koreans–Amy Yang (66), Ilhee Lee (67) and I.K. Kim (67).
Alison Lee of Valencia and UCLA posted a 70 and was seven shots down in a tie for 15th that included Mariajo Uribe of Colombia and UCLA, and Charley Hull of England, who also posted 70s.
Top-ranked Inbee Park of South Korea, who can wrap up the Career Grand Slam with a victory in the Evian, shot 69 and was another stroke behind in a tie for 20th that included Michelle Wie of Stanford, who totaled 66, and Beth Allen of Ojai and Cal State Northridge, who came in at 73.
