The Chevron Championship 2023 Round 1

THE WOODLANDS, TX – The Chevron Championship 2023 Round 1 Notes on the 52^nd edition of The Chevron Championship, 1^st edition at The Club at Carlton Woods in The Woodlands, Texas from April 20-23, 2023 on the The Jack Nicklaus Signature Course.

LEADERBOARD R1

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About your Championship leader Peiyun Chien:

• Nickname: ‘Money’
• From: Chinese Taipei
• Resides: Georgia
• Height: 5’5″
• Age: 32 (October 22, 1990)
• Rookie year on LPGA: 2017
• Rookie year on the Epson Tour: 2012
• Rolex Official World Ranking: 189
• Career earnings: $1,009,247
• Y2D earnings: $93,539
• Played three events so far in 2023, missed the cut in her opening two events but finished T4 at last week’s LOTTE Championship closing with a final round 67
• Took up golf at age 12
• Hobbies include singing and watching movies
• Good friends with Yani Tseng – caddied for her at the 2016 Swinging Skirts event in Taiwan
• 3-time winner on the Epson Tour
  • 2021 Circling Raven Championship
  • 2020 Epson Classic
  • 2016 Kansas City Championship

Chien on leading a major field including all of the world’s top 20 players:

“It feels so hard. We’re doing very well today, just focused on what I want, what we want, and which way we can miss. I think we did very well today.”

World No. 2 Nelly Korda on her opening round:

“I took advantage of the par-5s today. I think I birdied them all, so that was important, as I’m a bit of a longer hitter. Overall I played pretty well. It was nice to finish the way I did with just a tap-in birdie, but made a couple mistakes here and there where it was more of the yardage where I was a little too aggressive and I left myself a little short-sided chip, and with the rain that we got during the delay, I wasn’t sure how it was going to react, bump-and-running it or flopping it. Just made a couple of mistakes there, but that’s a given at a major championship.”

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Major winner Georgia Hall on enjoying the challenge of a major championship:

“I would say one of my strongest parts is actually my long irons, so I don’t mind if it gets softer, you just play a longer golf course. I think major championships are all about really tough conditions and tough pins and longer than we play, and I think that courses should be tough. I kind of enjoy the challenge.”

Lilia Vu, who won her first LPGA title at the 2023 Honda LPGA Thailand said of her first major as an LPGA winner:

“I really try to not make this week bigger. I feel like that puts a lot of pressure on myself. I’m just going to do what I’ve been doing since it’s been working out and just having fun on the golf course and appreciating the difficulty of the golf course.”

Leading amateur after the first round Eila Galitsky, sitting at 2 under said her goal on coming into The Championship was simply:

“Making the cut.”

The field in numbers:

• 27 Major Champions with 38 titles between them
• 20/20 on the Rolex World Rankings
• More than 300 LPGA and LET titles
• 28 nationalities represented in the field
• 27 Solheim Cup Players with 63 appearances between them
• 2 Olympic medallists
• 7 Amateurs competing
• 13 LPGA Tour rookies
• 9 past champions playing this year:
  • Jennifer Kupcho (2022)
  • Patty Tavatanakit (2021)
  • Jin Young Ko (2019)
  • Lydia Ko (2016)
  • Pernilla Lindberg (2018)
  • So Yeon Ryu (2017)
  • Brittany Lincicome (2015, 2009)
  • Lexi Thompson, (2014)
  • Stacy Lewis (2011)

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TOURNAMENT INFORMATION

Competition Format: 132 players; 72-hole stroke play, cut to top 65 and ties after 36 holes

Purse: $5.1 million

Whiteline Par and Yardage: 36-36–72, 6,824 yards (par and yardage are subject to change through the start of the tournament)

Past Champions and Runners-Up:

• 2022 – Jennifer Kupcho, 274 (-14); Jessica Korda, 276 (-12)
• 2021 – Patty Tavatanakit, 270 (-18); Lydia Ko, 272 (-16)
• 2020 – Mirim Lee, 273 (-15); defeated Brooke Henderson and Nelly Korda in a playoff
• 2019 – Jin Young Ko, 278 (-10); Mi Hyang Lee, 281 (-7)

Tournament Scoring Records*:

• 18 holes – 62, Lydia Ko (fourth round, 2021); Lorena Ochoa (first round, 2006)
• 36 holes – 132, Pernilla Lindberg (2018); Sung Hyun Park (2018)
• 54 holes – 200, Jennifer Kupcho (2022)
• 72 Holes – 269, Dottie Pepper (1999)

*Records set at the Dinah Shore Course at Mission Hills Country Club

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