As the afternoon marched on at Highland Meadows Country Club, LPGA Tour players clawed for a spot at the top of the Dana Open leaderboard, but it was the Republic of Korea’s Hye-Jin Choi who ended the day on top. Choi shot a 7-under 64 to take the first-round lead, just the second first-round lead or co-lead of her LPGA Tour career and her first since the 2022 Dana Open, where she ultimately finished T24. The 2022 Tour rookie took the solo lead on Thursday with a birdie on her final hole, jumping ahead of Olympians Aditi Ashok and Xiyu Lin, who finished at 6-under.
“It was really great day. I started a little weird, like my shot was not really great, so I try just to make the par,” said Choi, who made seven straight pars to open her first round. “Try that until 7, and then I make the birdie on 8, so I think, oh, I can do very better.”
Choi certainly did do better from there, collecting four straight birdies on holes 17, 18, 1 and 2. She added another birdie on five and closed out the round with two on eight and nine, sticking it to within 10 feet on the final hole and knocking her birdie putt into the back of the cup. Choi’s bogey-free round, a great feat at Highland Meadows, was one of just four recorded on Thursday.
“I like it here, but this course, I feel not really easy this course,” said Choi, who is making her third start at the Dana Open and has finished in the top 25 in each of the previous two years. “It's really tough course because green is a little bit hilly, and then the rough is really thick. So I thought it's really important for (good course) condition or something. Today was good.”
Playing in the same group on Thursday, Ashok and Lin battled for a spot at the top of the leaderboard, each carding first-round 65s to take the clubhouse lead before Choi came in and ultimately ending the day in a tie for second. Both players will be teeing it up in their third Olympic Games next month, with Ashok representing India and Liu playing for the People’s Republic of China, as will South Africa’s Paula Reto, who held the lead after the morning wave at the Dana Open with a 5-under 66. She sits in a tie for fourth after round one along with Thai players Natthakritta Vongtaveelap and Chanettee Wannasaen.
Native Ohioans Allie White and Stacy Lewis shot solid 4-under 67s, as did defending champion Linn Grant. White is an LPGA Teaching and Club Professional who was exempt into the Dana Open field as the 2023 LPGA Teaching Professionals National Champion. The Lancaster, Ohio native, who is making her third start in the tournament, sank a 60-foot eagle putt on the par-5 17th hole that elicited a roar from her local fan following. Saying ahead of the tournament that her only goal was to make the cut, White sits in a tie for seventh, along with seven other players.
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