Seo Kyo-rim ties for 2nd after Round 1 of KB Financial Championship

Seo Kyo-rim grabbed a share of the lead on the opening day of the KB Financial Group Golden Life Championship, the third major of this season's KLPGA Tour, which carries a purse of 1.5 billion won ($1.12 million).

Seo shot 3-under-par 69, with four birdies and one bogey, in the first round of the tournament, held at Blackstone Icheon Golf Club (par 72) in Icheon, Gyeonggi Province, on Thursday.

Seo, who is chasing her fifth win of the season, tied for second place along with Choi Ga-bin, Lee Ji-hyun, Sung Yu-jin and Lee Da-yeon. She was two strokes behind Hong Jin-young, who carded a bogey-free round with five birdies for 5-under-par 67 to take the outright lead.

Starting from the 10th hole (par 4), Seo opened with a birdie on her very first hole. She added further birdies on the 12th (par 4) and 15th (par 5), picking up three strokes on the front nine of her round. She made her only bogey on the second hole (par 4) but answered with a birdie on the fifth (par 4) to close out the round positively.

Kim Min-sol, Seo's rival in what has been dubbed the "Rim-Sol duel," had a tough start. She managed just one birdie against three bogeys and a double bogey, finishing at 4-over-par 71 to sit in a tie for 67th.

Seo, who has four wins this season, and Kim, who has three, are locked in a tight race for the money list and player-of-the-year points lead. In particular, Seo, who won the Korea Women's Open, and Kim, who won the KLPGA Championship, have each claimed one of this year's two majors so far. That adds to the intrigue over who will be the first to reach two major titles this season.

Hong Jin-young, who has yet to win since joining the tour in October 2018, put in a strong showing on the opening day. She birdied the first hole, added consecutive birdies on the third and fourth, then picked up another on the eighth (par 4) to seize the outright lead at 5-under-par 67.