Amy Olson plays her shot from the eighth tee during the first round of the CME Group Tour Championship at Tiburon Golf Club on Nov. 15, 2018 in Naples, Fla.Michael Reaves/Getty Images
American Amy Olson fired a career-best nine-under par 63 on Thursday to grab a one-stroke lead after one round of the LPGA’s CME Group Tour Championship in Naples, Fla.
Needing only 25 putts and hitting 13 of 14 fairways, Olson used the final holes of the front and back nines to separate from the field. She made four straight birdies on Holes 6-9 and another four in a row on Holes 14-17. She also birdied par-five first hole.
“Everything just clicked,” Olson told LPGA.com after her bogey-free round. “I gave myself a lot of birdie opportunities, but I just rolled in some of those putts you don’t expect to make.”
Olson, who got an early start Thursday in the second group to tee off on Hole 1, also hit 15 of 18 greens in regulation as she seeks her first career win. She hasn’t cracked the top 25 in any of her previous three tournaments, though she did tie for second at The Evian Championship in September.
But Olson, playing at the CME Group Tour Championship for the first time in her career, has plenty of pursuers close behind.
Japan’s Nasa Hataoka and American Brittany Lincicome are both one back at eight under – though Lincicome actually stood at nine under before bogeying 18, her only bogey of the day.
“I feel like the bogey was good so going in tomorrow it’s not like, ‘Oh, we had 18 holes without a bogey so now I need to make a bogey,'” Lincicome told LPGA.com as she tried to put a positive spin on her finish. “I’m glad we got that out of the way so now it’s going to be smooth sailing for tomorrow.”
American Lexi Thompson is one back of them at seven under, while Spain’s Carlota Ciganda rounds out the top five at six under.
Everyone in the top five is well ahead of the pace of the winning scores in recent years – the best 72-hole total in the last four years of this event was Charley Hull’s 19-under 269 in 2016.
Brooke Henderson of Smiths Falls, Ont., is in a tie for 56th after a one-over 73.
Speaking of the previous four winners, all of them sit within a stroke of one another, with three of them tied after one round.
Hull, 2015 champ Cristie Kerr and 2014 winner Lydia Ko are all at three-under 69 while last year’s champion, Ariya Jutanugarn, is a stroke back at two under.