Inbee Park of South Korea can regain the No. 1 spot in the Rolex Women’s Golf Rankings with a victory this week and she is off to a good start.
The third-ranked Park made a putter change and carded a 5-under-par 66 to take a one-stroke lead over Marina Alex after the first round of the inaugural Hugel-JTBC LA Open at Wilshire Country Club in Los Angeles, not far from Koreatown.
“Last week was just an awkward week where I missed a lot of short ones, and I wasn’t really comfortable with the putter,” said the 29-year-old Park, who has won 19 times on the LPGA Tour, including seven majors. “I just wanted to have a different look, so I just changed it.
“I played really well out there. Especially being the new golf course. I didn’t know how it was going to play. The course played really good. Really suited me. I putted really well out there, so I was really happy with that.
“I never played a tournament outside of Korea having this much Korean supporters out. I almost feel like I’m playing back home. It’s almost like a little Korea.”
Alex collected seven birdies in a 67, while second-ranked Lexi Thompson, who also can climb to No. 1 this week, shot 68 to tie for third with Pernilla Lindberg of Sweden, Moriya Jutanugarn of Thailand, Aditi Ashok of India, Emma Talley, Eun-Hee Ji of South Korea and Caroline Inglis.
Natalie Gulbis, who lives in Newport Beach, totaled 69 and is tied for 10th with Katherine Kirk of Pepperdine and Australia, Azahara Munoz of Spain, Minjee Lee of Australia and Lindsey Weaver.
Sixth-ranked Ariya Jutanugarn of Thailand shot 71and is in a tie for 29th that includes No. 5 So Yeon Ryu of South Korea, while No. 8 Cristie Kerr is tied for 59th at 73, and top-ranked Shanshan Feng of China shot 74 and is in a tie for 74th that includes No. 4 Sung Hyun Park of South Korea and No. 9 Anna Nordqvist of Sweden.
For complete results, visit http://www.lpga.com/leaderboard.
