Sweden’s Linnea Johansson fired a remarkable seven-below par sixty four on Thursday to grab the first-round lead within the LPGA LA Championship at Wilshire Country Club.Johansson, ranked 358th within the world, hadn’t made a reduce in prior begins this season, however she changed into on-goal on Thursday as she hit 14 of 14 fairways and 15 veggies in regulation.
“(I) performed fearless golfing today and really went after a whole lot of pins and managed to hit them very close and roll in the putts,” Johansson stated after a round that featured seven birdies without a bogey. “I in reality managed to roll within the longer ones extra than the shorter ones. It became just a notable day all-around.”
The 29-year-antique, who played college golfing within the United States and primary earned her LPGA excursion card in 2020, has but to post a top-10 end.
“Obviously it is been a little experience for me the past couple of years, struggling a little bit out here,” she said. “The ladies are suitable. It’s the pleasant players in the world, so it ought to be difficult, and so it’s far. It’s tough for everyone.
“But days whilst it clicks and while you truely hit the pictures that you want and manage to roll putts in, it is the times you genuinely revel in it a bit bit more … Setting out the event here like this, it is super.”Johansson had a one-shot lead over 2019 champion Minjee Lee of Australia and Scotland’s Gemma Dryburgh.
Lee had seven birdies, inclusive of 3 in a row at the 14th, 15th and 16th earlier than her only bogey of the day at 17. After playing the back nine first, she delivered four birdies coming in for a sixty five.
“I started just with pars and then made 3 birdies in a row — that turned into a pleasant manner to complete off my the front 9,” stated Lee, who said the Wilshire format “jogs my memory a bit little bit of domestic”.
“It just kind of offers me good vibes,” stated Lee, whose eight LPGA titles consist of a first-rate at the 2021 Evian Championship.
“It became a pleasing, strong day,” Lee stated.
Dryburgh, chasing a second LPGA tour name after taking pictures her first at the Toto Japan Classic final November, had eight birdies and two bogeys in her 65.
Five of her birdies got here in a blistering the front 9, which include three in a row at the 6th through the eighth.
She stated a 15-foot putt at the sixth was “a bit of a bonus.” She hit it near at the seventh — a hollow she has aced before — and again at 8.
“I may want to have birdied each hole to be honest,” Dryburgh said. “I hit it quite close on all the holes, which become pleasant, and noticed the putts going in, which became good.”
Lilia Vu, who won her first principal title at the Chevron Championship on Sunday, carded a sixty nine and turned into joined in the organization at -below by means of world primary Nelly Korda of the United States.
