A robot with the driver and the irons. And this Thursday also with the putter. The show of Ayaka Furue (-7). Come and see. Pure Disneyland. The Japanese gave a master class in all areas of the game in the first round of the Tournament of Champions and broke the record of Lake Nona, the course in Orlando where this event has been held since 2022. She made a full in streets (14/14) and hunted 17 of the 18 greens in regulation. If on top of that she has the broken hand to hole seven birdies (something that has a lot of merit due to the severe slopes of these greens) and does not commit any bogey (only 28 putts in her possession), well, you tell me. Total show.
No better way to finish than with a birdie 🤩🐥 #HGVLPGA pic.twitter.com/zFd9giC5MS
— LPGA (@LPGA) January 18, 2024
Of course, the Japanese, 23 years old, is a life insurance, as in the last year she is the only golfer on the LPGA Tour who has managed to catch all the streets and 17 greens three times. That’s something. And yet Furue still thinks that this Florida course does not suit her game. Good thing she doesn’t adapt… The twenty-fifth player in the world, who only boasts one victory on the American Circuit, the Scottish Open at Dundonald Links (2022), but has eight trophies on the Japanese LPGA, has displayed perfect golf, although there are still 54 holes to play and behind they come pushing hard, among them some winners of the Tournament of Champions.
Gaby López (-5) arrives more disconnected than ever at the start of the season. The winner in 2020 got married a month ago in Mexico (Carlota Ciganda was among the 500 guests), and then she enjoyed like a child on an unforgettable honeymoon: Madrid, Uganda, Tanzania and Egypt was the journey of the newlyweds. The 30-year-old golfer had a great time on safaris and was amazed by the pyramids and the Nile. She arrived in Florida so relaxed that she has placed herself in second position after a dazzling start by the 10 (four birdies in a row, to which she added a fifth on the sixth flag); then she alternated hits with errors, but the -5 placed her two strokes behind the leader, along with the Swedish Maja Stark, who has got the hang of this Lake Nona, where she finished second in 2023, and has finished the first round with six birdies and a bogey.
Danielle Kang (-4), champion in 2022, and Ally Ewing (-4) faltered on hole 18 after a great start and share fourth place, while the last winner of the Tournament of Champions, Brooke Henderson (-3), has started her title defence in good tone. Lydia Ko, Ashleigh Buhai and the young Rose Zhang are on par with the Canadian.
Lilia Vu (-1), leader of the world ranking and debutant in this event after winning four tournaments last year, recovered from a moment of uncertainty after starting with a bogey on the 1 and a double bogey on the 6, interspersing a birdie between both; in the second nine she corrected the course with three hits that leave her under par, just like Nelly Korda (-1).
Those who have thrown away many options to fight for the victory have been the world’s Number Two, Ruoning Yin (+3), who not only weighed the double bogey on the 18 but also three more errors that stained her card, and the English Charley Hull (+2), second in 2023.
