Stephanie Meadow finds herself just outside the top 10 after the opening round of the LOTTE Championship at Hoakalei Country Clubin Hawaii, while Leona Maguire shares 40th place.
Meadow, making just her fourth LPGA Tour start of 2025 after a long layoff, found herself on level-par through eight holes after trading a single birdie and a single bogey, but rolled in a birdie putt on the par-3 ninth to make the turn at one-under.
Then, she caught fire on the back, making three bridies in a four-hole stretch beginning on the 11th and then adding another on 17 to move to -5 and onto the first page of the leaderboard.
A disappointing bogey-six on the par-5 18th hole will have left her a little frustrated with the finish but happy overall as she sits tied for 11th.
Leona Maguire is two shots further back on -2. The Cavan native made the turn at level-par after making two birdies and two bogeys on the front nine, but bookended the back nine with birdies and made seven pars in between to end the day tied for 40th.
Both Meadow and Maguire played in the afternoon wave, however, and the best of the scoring conditions were found in the morning where Akie Iwai shot an eight-under 64 in calm conditions, and it was a family affair as she played alongside twin sister Chisato.
“It was fun,” Akie said. “I’m looking forward to tomorrow, too.”
The 23-year-old Japanese sisters have each won this year as tour rookies. Chisato broke through at Mayakoba in Mexico in May, and Akie won the Portland Classic in August.
On Wednesday, Akie birdied three of the first four holes. Then, after making six birdies in a nine-hole span, she closed with a bogey on the par-3 ninth. Chisati opened with a 70.
Fellow Japanese player Nasa Hataoka was a stroke at back at 65 with Gabriela Ruffels of Australia and Peiyun Chien of Taiwan.
“We played at 7:30 this morning and the wind wasn’t up,” Ruffels said. “I feel like the defense of this golf course is the wind, so having an afternoon tee time tomorrow, I feel like it’s going to be a bit trickier and it might be tougher to shoot a lower number.”
Defending champion A Lim Kim of South Korea had the best round of the afternoon session, making four straight birdies on the back nine in a 66. Thai players Patty Tavatanakit and Pornanong Phatlum shot 66 in the morning.
Nelly Korda opened with a 69 in the afternoon, birdieing the first three holes, then offsetting two bogeys with two birdies the rest of the way.
“A little bit of an up-and-down round, but overall, happy to get it in at 3-under par,” Korda said. “Definitely have a long way to go to get in contention.”
Coming off a seven-victory season, she hasn’t won this year and has lost her No. 1 ranking to Jeeno Thitikul. The tour has had a different winner in all 24 of its official tournaments this year.
Charley Hull matched playing partner Korda with a 69. Hull won the Kroger Queen City Championship three weeks ago in Ohio after Thitikul four-putted the final hole.
Brooke Henderson, the 2018 and 2019 winner at Ko Olina, shot 70 in the afternoon.
After the event, the LPGA heads to Asia for tournaments five straight weeks in Shanghai, South Korea, Malaysia and Japan.
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