Amy Yang 2 back of opening-round lead at LPGA’s 3rd major of season

Amy Yang sits two strokes off the opening-round lead at the third major of the 2024 LPGA season in the U.S. Pacific Northwest.

Yang shot a two-under 70 to begin the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship at Sahalee Country Club in Sammamish, Washington, a suburb east of Seattle, on Thursday (local time).

Lexi Thompson of the United States was alone at the top of the leaderboard at a four-under 68 on the par-72 course that played 6,754 yards in the first round.

World No. 1 Nelly Korda is one behind Thompson, and Yang is one of 10 players at two-under.

Kim Hyo-joo was the next-best South Korean at one-under, while Ko Jin-young shot an even 72.

South Korea has not had an LPGA winner after 15 tournaments this year, the longest such drought to begin a season since 2000.

The 60-player women’s field for the Olympic tournament in Paris will be finalized based on the world rankings after this major championship.

The top-15 players after Sunday will qualify for the Olympics, with a maximum of four players per country. After the top 15, the remaining spots will go to the highest-ranked players from countries that don’t already have at least two golfers qualified. Each nation can have a maximum of two players in this scenario.

Prior to this tournament, South Korea had two players ranked among the top 15: Ko Jin-young at No. 7 and Kim Hyo-joo at No. 12.

The next two were Shin Ji-yai at No. 24 and Yang at No. 25. Shin shot a 75 in the opening round.

South Korea sent the maximum four players to each of the past two Olympic Games, with Park In-bee grabbing the gold medal in Rio de Janeiro in 2016.