Hye-Jin Choi carded an 8-under 64 to seize a one-stroke lead after the first round of the Maybank Championship on Thursday in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
The South Korean recorded an eagle at the par-5 third hole and her sixth birdie on the par-5 18th at Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country Club (West Course).
“If you don’t miss your tee shot you don’t make bogeys, you can make a lot of birdies,” Choi said after her bogey-free round. “I had a lot of situations which I could make bogeys because of rough and hazard, but I made a lot of good pars.”
Choi holds a one-shot lead over both Scottish player Gemma Dryburgh and Italy’s Benedetta Moresco.
“It was a very stress-free round,” said Dryburgh, who capped her bogey-free round by collecting her seventh birdie on the 18th hole.
Dryburgh, who hails from Scotland but now lives in New Orleans, said living in Louisiana allowed her to quickly adjust to the hot conditions in Malaysia.
“Yeah, thankful the experience in New Orleans helps me,” she said. “Obviously in the summer it’s kind of like this. So, experience from that, kind of using that this week. Obviously very different to Scotland. Yeah, just using all that experience from New Orleans and Tulane University.”
Moresco kept pace by firing nine birdies against two bogeys.
“Yeah, just tell myself to trust my feelings,” she said. “I’ve been working hard last week and golf didn’t go well my way the last two weeks on Tour, so I just try to stay calm and collected out there and today paid off for sure.”
New Zealand’s Lydia Ko and Australia’s Hannah Green are part of a seven-golfer contingent tied at 6-under.
World No. 1 Jeeno Thitikul of Thailand shot 4-under over her last 11 holes to finish with a 68, tying her with defending champion Ruoning Yin of China in 21st place.
“I’ll take it every single day,” Thitikul said of her score. “But … even you shoot how low you shoot, but you still have something that’s a mistake and then you want to work it on anyway.
“But, overall, I think it’s really good start for the week.””
This is the third edition of this no-cut event, which was first won by Frenchwoman Celine Boutier on the ninth hole of a playoff against Thitikul in 2023. Yin set the tournament record of 23-under with her one-shot victory last year against Thitikul.
