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Chun, Park share first-round lead at Evian Championship

Chun In-gee of South Korea edged closer to a second major title, and a slice of golfing history, when she extended her lead to four shots at the Evian Championship in France on Saturday.

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World number one Lydia Ko of New Zealand, the Olympic silver medalist, opened with a 70 to trail the leaders by seven.

The 22-year-old shared the first-round lead on 63 with compatriot Park Sung Hyun, but she moved two clear of the pack with a six-birdie round.

Webb missed the cut in her last event in Canada but prior to that tied for fifth at both the Canadian Women’s Open and the Women’s British Open.

Chun dropped only one shot in her opening 36 holes – she led by two shots at halfway – but she had to shrug off a nasty double-bogey seven at the long ninth in round three.

The 72-hole record for the women is also 19-under-par, which has been posted on four previous occasions, while the men’s record is 20-under-par, set by Jason Day at the 2015 PGA Championship and Henrik Stenson at the 2016 Open Championship. “Without players like her, there might not be a Tour like it is today”.

“I just seemed to hit a lot of good wedge shots today and hit a lot of good putts, ” said Johnston, coming off a 28th-place tie last week in OH in the DAP Championship. Tipped as a future great in her mid-teens, she was already the youngest victor on the Tour after winning the 2012 Canadian Women’s Open.

In Gee Chun produced an impressive recovery from a mid-round stutter as she remained firmly on course for her second career major after the third round of the Evian Championship. She keeps it light.Ko’s numbers this season have been absolutely ridiculous, as she ranks first on the LPGA Tour in Putts per GIR, Putting Average, Scoring Average and Rounds Under Par. Annie Park, joined by her mom and older sister, hit four landmarks in Paris on a whirlwind half-day tour.”That was fun. I want to be happy on the course”, she said.

“You know, there’s a lot of young players coming out, but I still have something to improve, and I wanted to focus on that rather than so much about consequences”.

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Ko is just five points ahead of Jutanugarn, while Henderson sits is third place – although the 19-year-old Canadian is a long way back. “I think I made a really good second shot, and then third shot – because I tried really good to visualize my third shot”.

In-Gee Chun