Korea Women’s Professional Golf (KLPGA) Tour money leader Lee Ye-won has a chance to win her third title of the season .Lee carded eight birdies and two bogeys for a 6-under-par 66 in the first round of the OK Financial Group Women’s Open (total prize money of 800 million won) at the Club 72 Sky Course (par-72, 6,713 yards) in Jung-gu, Incheon, on Friday to take a share of the lead. Lee opened up the possibility of a third regular tour title after winning the Lotte Rent-a-Car Women’s Open in April and the Doosan E&C Weave Championship last month. Lee, who currently leads the season’s money list with 983.8 million won, is also in line to break the one-billion-won mark at the tournament. Lee is also a former OK Golf Scholar, a golf scholarship programme of the OK Financial Group affiliates .After starting the day on the 10th hole, Lee picked up momentum with five birdies in the first half, including back-to-back birdies on the 13th and 16th holes .He had his ups and downs on the back nine, including his first bogey on the fifth hole (par-4) when his approach shot hit a sprinkler and bounced away, but he managed to stay on top of the leaderboard. “I lost about five yards from the start of the season as it got hotter, but after the two-week break, I’ve regained a lot of stamina and am playing a little easier,” said Lee. “Today I felt good with my shots and was able to save a lot of strokes,” he added .”I wasn’t the first to win two, so I wasn’t too disappointed when Park won three,” he said, adding, “There are still a lot of tournaments left and I just need to win the rest of them .”Moon Jung-min, who won the KLPGA’s second Dream Tour event two days earlier, carded six birdies without a bogey to share the lead .Moon, who plays on both the KLPGA Tour and the Dream Tour, has two wins on the secondary tour but no wins on the regular tour.” Coming off a win on the Dream Tour, I had a good feel for the game. Last season, I was impatient and had a tough season, but after winning, I thought I could do well,” he said, adding, “I will do the same for the remaining rounds. “Choi, Madasom, Kim Woo-jung, Ha Min-song and Park Bo-gyeom were the only seven players on the leaderboard, while six others, including Kim Ji-hyun, were one shot back in a tie for eighth (5-under 67).Park Hyun-kyung and Kim Hae-rim are tied for 14th (4-under 68), while amateur Kim Min-sol, who will compete at the Hangzhou Asian Games, is tied for 21st (3-under 69).Lee Jeong-eun, who plays on the United States Women’s Professional Golf (LPGA) Tour, finished tied for 25th with Hwang Yoo-min and Lim Hee-jung after a two-under-par 70, while defending champion Kim Soo-ji was tied for 65th (even-par 72) and Yoo So-yeon was tied for 88th (one-over-par 73). Absent from the field were Park, who won the KB Financial Star Championship last week for her third win of the season, and Park Min-ji, who has won the money 안전놀이터 list for the past two years.
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