Yoo Hae-ran and Choi Hye-jin "Side by Side with 5-Under Par Excitement"

Kroger Queen City Championship 1R Tied 6th
Riu Ruixin Leads, Minji Lee Tied 6th
Inruning and Lydia Ko Tied 12th

The excitement of Yoo Hae-ran, the 'rookie points leader.'

On the 7th (local time), at the Kenwood Country Club Kendale Course (par 72, 6,515 yards) in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA, Yoo Hae-ran shot a 5-under-par 67 in the first round of the LPGA Tour Kroger Queen City Championship (total prize money $2 million), placing her tied for 6th. Liu Ruixin (China) leads with 7-under-par 65, while Chen Peiyun (Taiwan), Elizabeth Sokol (USA), and two others are tied for 2nd at 6-under-par 66.

Rookie Yoo Hae-ran joined the race for the championship by shooting 5 under par in the first round of the Kroger Queen City Championship.

Yoo Hae-ran displayed perfect play with five birdies and no bogeys. She started with a birdie on the 10th hole (par 4), followed by 'stepping stone birdies' on the 14th and 16th holes, reducing three strokes in the front nine. In the back nine, she added consecutive birdies on the 1st and 2nd holes. She relied on long drives averaging 267 yards and pinpoint iron shots that missed the green only once. She is two strokes behind the leader, in a position to contend for her first win this year.

Yoo Hae-ran qualified first in the LPGA Tour Qualifying (Q) Series last winter and joined the U.S. tour the following year. This season, she has competed in 18 tournaments and achieved five top-10 finishes. Her personal best is 3rd place at the Mizuho Americas Open in June. Yoo Hae-ran is currently leading the Rookie of the Year points race with 598 points. Second place is Grace Kim (Australia), winner of the Lotte Championship, with 512 points.

Liu Ruixin collected seven birdies. Although she debuted in 2019, she has yet to secure a victory. Choi Hye-jin and Lee Min-ji (Australia) are tied for 6th, eyeing a rise in the rankings. In Luo Ning (China) and Lydia Ko (New Zealand) are tied for 12th at 4-under-par 68, while Park Sung-hyun, Shin Ji-eun, and Rose Zhang (USA) are tied for 36th at 2-under-par 70. From Korea, Joo Soo-bin is tied for 49th at 1-under-par 71, Ahn Na-rin and Lee Jeong-eun 5 are tied for 69th at even par 72, and Jang Hyo-jun and Lee Jeong-eun 6 are tied for 88th at 1-over-par 73.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.