Carlota Ciganda (+2) hasn’t had the ideal start to the Major. She handed in a card of 74 strokes on the first day of the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship and is positioned in 40th place, six strokes behind leader Jeeno Thitikul (-4). It’s definitely not the start she was looking for at the Field Ranch East PGA Frisco. That’s the obvious part. We need to set the tournament context, and that’s the harsh reality. However, there’s a more complete and interesting analysis behind it, which has to do with the fact that the Navarrese has indeed played part of her round in major champion mode. She has it and has shown it.
Carlota’s problem was in her first eight holes. She entered the tournament cold, and not precisely because of the tremendous heat being experienced there this week. Simply, the swing wasn’t flowing, especially on the second shots. She made mistakes and ended up with a four-over-par, with two bogeys and a double bogey. She hit two greens in those first eight, including a penalty on the 8th, par 3, where she had to retake from the tee.
Those are the bad news from the debut of the latest LPGA Tour champion. At that moment, it seemed like Ciganda was losing any chance of winning this week, but her reaction was fabulous, and she did more than just save face. It all started with the second shot on the 9th hole, par 5. It was majestic. She hit the green in two and from there played by the book. In fact, she hit all the greens from 9 to 18, and the only bogey she committed was with a three-putt on the 16th. A bit cruel, true, although she compensated with a great two-meter putt for par on the 18th. She finally finished with +2, fully in the fight considering the afternoon was much more challenging than the morning (more wind and harder, faster greens) and everything points to the winner being around par on Sunday, not much less.
Azahara Muñoz (+3) had a similar round to Carlota, although her good stretch wasn’t as powerful as her good Navarrese friend’s. Azahara started with three bogeys in the first three holes, but from there she signed a par in 15, a result that would have her very high in the standings. Her reaction began with a great twenty-meter putt on the 13th hole (she started on the 10th), although really she left the most on the greens with three three-putts.
Julia López (+7) experienced an absolute roller coaster. Like Carlota and Azahara, what a cross the starts were for the Spanish players this Thursday, she started with a four-over-par in three holes. From that moment, she fought tooth and nail against the course and exchanged birdies and bogeys until a double bogey on the 8th did her a lot of damage. She missed the tee shot on this par 3 into the bunker and needed two attempts to get out. She ended with another bogey on the last hole, making the cut very complicated for her. Provisionally, she is at +3, indicating she could go to +6 tomorrow.
As we said, the lead is held by Jeeno Thitikul (-4), one of the big favourites for the win, although she hasn’t yet opened her Major record. The Thai is one of the best in the world in 2025, in fact, she occupies the second spot behind Nelly Korda. The key to her round today was undoubtedly on the greens. She holed many and some very long ones. She only needed 25 putts on devilish greens to complete the 18 holes. Interestingly, she also started with a double bogey and from there delivered a great six-under-par.
One stroke behind Thitikul is Minjee Lee (-3), another favourite, while at -2 are Hae Ran Ryu, Rio Takeda, Somi Lee, and Yealimi Noh. Completing the list of players under par are Yuna Nishimura, Peiyun Chien, Angel Yin, Chisato Iwai, Kumkang Park, Shinsil Bang, Auston Kim, Yuomin Hwang, and In Gee Chun. In case you hadn’t noticed, there are 15, and they are all Asian or of Asian descent. Nelly Korda, Leona Maguire, or Lexi Thompson started with a PAR round. The World Number One left a lot on the greens.
As for those who have already said goodbye to their chances of victory, they include Mirim Lee (+13), Aditi Ashok (+9), Danielle Kang (+8), Lauren Coughlin (+8), Yuka Saso (+7), Emily Pedersen (+7), Charley Hull (+6), Anna Nordqvist (+6), or Linn Grant (+5), Patty Tavatanakit (+5), Albane Valenzuela (+5), or Nasa Hataoka (+5), among others.
