A bogey at her final hole, the par-four ninth at Highland Meadows, cost her the outright lead, but Kim wasn’t too discouraged.
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Ko, who was leading the US Open midway through the final round before finishing tied for third, sits in a share of seventh place, two shots back from a trio of leaders in Hyo Joo Kim, Mirim Lee, both South Korea, and Japan’s Haru Nomura.
Kelly Shon, Ariya Jutanugarn and Celine Herbin are each one shot back at 4 under. I finally said, I think I need to make a little swing adjustment.
“Last night, it was raining, so it’s little bit more softer green”, Kim said through a translator. I did. Since then, I’ve been hitting the ball a lot better.
Lee dropped in seven birdies, including a bogey-free back nine, which included four birdies.
Lee, who finished in a tie for 11th at the U.S. Women’s Open, endured a turbulent front nine that consisted of three birdies and two bogeys.
Meanwhile, Kiwi Josh Geary made a good start to the Web.com Tour event in IL, carding a two-under 69 to sit in a tie for 56th, five shots behind the leaders.
Kiwi golfer Lydia Ko carded consecutive birdies to finish at three-under after her first round in Ohio.
Nomura won the Women’s Australian Open in February for her first LPGA Tour title and took the Swinging Skirts LPGA Classic in April in California.
“Hopefully, I’ll have a few more birdies tomorrow”, said Ko, the 19-year-old from New Zealand who tied for third last week in the U.S. Women’s Open.
However, she stumbled a bit on Hole 1 for her first bogey of the day.
“I played pretty good”, said Jutanugarn, who reeled off three straight wins in May. The 23-year-old made another bogey at the first to start her back nine, but she atoned for her mistake and put herself in a share of the lead with a hat-trick of birdies.
The tournament features all three of this year’s major winners ― Ko, Brooke Henderson and Brittany Lang, victor of last week’s US Women’s Open.
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Defending champion Chella Choi had a 72.
