Round One Recap | The Chevron Championship
April 20, 2023
LEADERBOARD R1
1 Peiyun Chien 67
T2 Chella Choi 68
T2 Nelly Korda 68
T2 Lilia Vu 68
T2 Ayaka Furue 68
T2 Stephanie Kyriacou 68
T2 Marina Alex 68
About your Championship leader Peiyun Chien
Nickname: ‘Money’
From: Chinese Taipei
Resides: Georgia
Height: 5’5″
Aged: 32 (October 22, 1990)
Rookie year on LPGA: 2017
Rookie year on the Epson Tour: 2012
Rolex Official World Ranking: 189
Career earnings: $1,009,247
Y2D earnings: $93,539
Played three events so far in 2023, missed the cut in her opening two events but finished T4 at last week’s LOTTE Championship closing with a final round 67
Took up golf at age 12
Hobbies include singing and watching movies
Good friends with Yani Tseng – caddied for her at the 2016 Swinging Skirts event in Taiwan
3-time winner on the Epson Tour
- 2021 Circling Raven Championship
- 2020 Epson Classic
- 2016 Kansas City Championship
Chien on leading a major field including all of the world’s top 20 players…
“It feels so hard. We’re doing very well today, just focused on what I want, what we want, and which way we can miss. I think we did very well today.”
World No.2 Nelly Korda on her opening round…
“I took advantage of the par-5s today. I think I birdied them all, so that was important, as I’m a bit of a longer hitter. Overall I played pretty well. It was nice to finish the way I did with just a tap-in birdie, but made a couple mistakes here and there where it was more of the yardage where I was a little too aggressive and I left myself a little short-sided chip, and with the rain that we got during the delay, I wasn’t sure how it was going to react, bump-and-running it or flopping it. Just made a couple of mistakes there, but that’s a given at a major championship.”
Major winner Georgia hall on enjoying the challenge of a major championship…
“I would say one of my strongest parts is actually my long irons, so I don’t mind if it gets softer, you just play a longer golf course. I think major championships are all about really tough conditions and tough pins and longer than we play, and I think that courses should be tough. I kind of enjoy the challenge.”
Lilia Vu, who won her first LPGA title at the 2023 Honda LPGA Thailand said of her first major as an LPGA winner: “I really try to not make this week bigger. I feel like that puts a lot of pressure on myself. I’m just going to do what I’ve been doing since it’s been working out and just having fun on the golf course and appreciating the difficulty of the golf course.”
Leading amateur after the first round is Eila Galitsky, sitting at 2 under said her goal on coming into The Championship was simply, “Making the cut.”
The field in numbers:
27 Major Champions with 38 titles between them
20/20 on the Rolex World Rankings
More than 300 LPGA and LET titles
28 nationalities represented in the field
27 Solheim Cup Players with 63 appearances between them
2 Olympic medallists
7 Amateurs competing
13 LPGA Tour rookies
9 past champions playing this year
- Jennifer Kupcho (2022)
- Patty Tavatanakit (2021),
- Jin Young Ko (2019),
- Lydia Ko (2016),
- Pernilla Lindberg, (2018)
- So Yeon Ryu, (2017),
- Brittany Lincicome, (2015, 2009)
- Lexi Thompson, (2014)
- Stacy Lewis (2011)
TOURNAMENT INFORMATION
Competition Format: 132 players; 72-hole stroke play, cut to top 65 and ties after 36 holes
Purse: $5.1 million
Whiteline Par and Yardage: 36-36–72, 6,824 yards
(par and yardage are subject to change through the start of the tournament)
Past Champions and Runners-Up:
2022 – Jennifer Kupcho, 274 (-14); Jessica Korda, 276 (-12)
2021 – Patty Tavatanakit, 270 (-18); Lydia Ko, 272 (-16)
2020 – Mirim Lee, 273 (-15); defeated Brooke Henderson and Nelly Korda in a playoff
2019 – Jin Young Ko, 278 (-10); Mi Hyang Lee, 281 (-7)
Tournament Scoring Records*:
18 holes – 62, Lydia Ko (fourth round, 2021); Lorena Ochoa (first round, 2006)
36 holes – 132, Pernilla Lindberg (2018); Sung Hyun Park (2018)
54 holes – 200, Jennifer Kupcho (2022)
72 Holes – 269, Dottie Pepper (1999)
*Records set at the Dinah Shore Course at Mission Hills Country Club