SEOUL, July 23 (Yonhap) -- Lee Jeong-eun (25), a South Korean golfer, made a head start on her first day on the Amundi Evian Championship (total prize of $450mln), LPGA Tour Season 4th Major.
During the first round held in Evian Resort Golf Club (Par71), Évian-les-Bains France, Lee shot 66 (5 under pars) on the 23rd (Korean time).
With 1 shot behind of Korean-American Yealimi Noh and Pajaree Anannarukarn (Thailand) who made 65 shots (6 under pars), Lee tied for 3rd place, preparing for rivalry for the winning place.
Having conquered South Korea, Lee Jeong-eun expanded her stage to America and there, soon took over the U.S. Open and became a star rookie but her second winning is yet to be achieved.
Scoring in top 10 for her recent two competitions, Lee is once again in an upstream.
On that day, she managed to catch 4 out of 7 birdies from 5 holes in the second half.
Kim Hyo-joo (26), who won the 2014 Evian Championship, tied for 8th place, making 67 shots (4 under pars).
She showed the best grades out of the 4 Korean champions aiming for the Tokyo Olympic's gold medal.
Other champions did not make it to expectation with Park In-bee (33) and Kim Sei-young (28) on 56th place together (even par 71 shots), Ko Jin-young ranking 76th (over par 72 shots).
2019 championship winner Go will have to defend her winner-title through this year's Major due to cancellation of last year's championship over COVID-19.
Chun In-gee (27) and Ryu So-yeon (31) both made a tie on their first days each ranking on 11th place with 68 shots 3 under pars and 23rd place with 2 shots lesser.
Yealimi Noh, who debuted last year but is playing her first championship this year due to COVID-19, luckily shot 1 hole (Par 4) eagle with 5 birdies which made a good start. Her shots were so accurate that she missed the green only 2 times.
Just before the Major, Noh ranked 3rd on Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational, played in duos. She partnered with Kim A-lim (26) and later remarked, "I learned a lot from Kim A-lim who is always positive and bright."
Kim A-lim made 1 over par 72 shots.
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