By Amy Rogers
HAMILTON TOWNSHIP, Ohio – There wasn’t a cloud in the sky as the first round of the Kroger Queen City Championship presented by P&G began its fourth edition on Thursday morning. And the players who went out in the early wave took advantage of the crisp and cool conditions before warmer temperatures and a light breeze arrived at TPC River’s Bend.
Chanettee Wannasaen teed off in the fifth group of the day and, with a freshly re-tooled swing, tied the tournament record set by defending champion Lydia Ko with a nine-under par round of 63. Wannasaen holds a two-stroke lead on day one ahead of Gigi Stoll, who carded the low round of the afternoon with a 65.
Wannasaen got off to a hot start with a bogey-free front nine of 33, but the real fireworks happened on the backside as she made the turn with an eagle at the 390 yard par four, 10th hole when she hit what she described as a perfect 9-iron that rolled up close to the pin and then dropped into the bottom of the cup.
Wannasaen took advantage of the par fives throughout her round and added another birdie at the 11th. At the par four, 17th hole, the Thai’s approach came to rest on the fringe 50 feet short of the hole, and she hit a bump-and-run-9-iron into the hole for her sixth birdie of the day. At the closing par five, Wannasaen once more took advantage of the scoring opportunity and went for the green in two. Her eagle putt from 40 feet above the hole slid by on the high side, but left her with a makeable birdie putt to match the tournament record at nine-under par.
Wannasaen’s round is a bright spot in what has otherwise been a tough run for the two-time LPGA Tour winner who has missed the cut in three of her last four starts. Since the AIG Women’s Open, she says she hasn’t been able to make clean contact with the ball. Unable to troubleshoot her own swing troubles, Wannasaen turned to Wichanee Meechai, a fellow Thai LPGA Tour member, along with her coach and caddie for guidance. Wannasaen says Meechai helped her make some changes with her stance, moving her nearer to the ball and with her feet closer together. To maintain that stance, Wannasaen has practiced on the range this week with an alignment rod. The improvement helped as she missed only two fairways and two greens on Thursday and needed only 26 putts.
“I’m just like hit the ball like better, so it’s really tough because like in Evian, in Portland, in Canada, and in Boston I just feel like I cannot hit the ball; really cannot hit the ball. So that made me lose confident,” Wannasaen said about her struggles in recent months. “But this week is pretty like earn more confident from today, so I just want to enjoy. Right now, just hit good. Just want to continue to hit like this until end of this year.”
Stoll threatened the lead for much of the afternoon as the second-year member went out in 33 and kept her momentum rolling on the inward nine by going birdie, eagle at the turn to jump with within three strokes of the lead. Her lone mistake of the day came at the par four, 17th hole where Stoll missed her only fairway of the day and then failed to get up and down from the greenside bunker. But Stoll recovered at the reachable par five, 18th hole to cap off her day with a closing birdie to record her career low round on the LPGA Tour.
“I feel like I’m maximizing my driver really well out here. Hit a lot of fairways,” said Stoll, who missed a single fairway on Thursday. “Just being able to attack with good hybrids and some longer clubs into those par-5s. I feel like I hit a lot of good shots into the par-5s which gave me some good looks.”
Like Wannasaen, Stoll has faced challenges with her game throughout the season and has put in extra work on her putting heading into this week’s Kroger Queen City Championship presented by P&G. While Stoll still needed 30 putts on Thursday, she felt like she was able to get more putts to drop on day one than she has in recent weeks.
“I feel like I’ve been striking the ball pretty well all year; just haven’t really capitalized on playing well by making putts,” Stoll said, having missed the cut in her last two starts. “I felt like today a lot of putts fell for me. I’ve just been working hard on it, so it’s good to see results.”
Major champions Sei Young Kim, A Lim Kim, and Patty Tavatanakit, along with Peiyun Chien, Kumkang Park, and Jenny Bae sit three strokes off the lead with opening rounds of six-under par.
Nelly Korda’s opening round of 67 put her in a pack at five-under par along with Bianca Pagdanganan, Gabi Ruffels, and Julia Lopez Ramirez. Korda began her day on the back nine and rallied from a tough opening stretch in which she went birdie-bogey-birdie-bogey on holes Nos. 11-14.
“My first birdie I hit a really great shot in; reachable par-5. Kind of let my iron loose out to the right and I didn’t make a five-footer for par. And then the next hole I made a longer putt and then the next hole I chunked a wedge into the bunker and it plugged, so that was great,” Korda said with a laugh. “That’s golf. I was hitting it good and I was putting really well, so I just stayed patient.”
Defending champion Lydia Ko carded a two-under par round of 70 on Thursday while world No.1 Jeeno Thitikul, who finished runner-up to Ko in 2024, opened with a round of 69.
