Quebec’s Maude-Aimée LeBlanc got into all sorts of trouble during the first round of the BMW Women’s LPGA Tour Championship on Thursday in Wonju, South Korea, finding himself second to bottom.

The golfer returned a card of 80, eight strokes over par. She can take comfort in the fact that 2021 tournament winner and world number-one, local hero Jin Young Ko, matched her record on opening day. LeBlanc, the only Canadian in action, had three birdies, but most notably two double bogeys and five bogeys. She is 17 shots off the head of Thailand’s Atthaya Thitikul (63).

This primarily hit the South Korean Minsol Kim (64), who is developing among amateurs. The trio of America’s Andrea Lee, along with Yaeeun Hong and A Lim Kim, also from the host country, occupy the third tier with 66 (-6). Former world No. 1 New Zealand’s Lydia Ko is part of a group that played well for sixth place at 68 (-4) overall.

No apology

To return to knockout, she had missed her activities for two months before returning to the game due to a wrist injury, but she didn’t want to hide behind excuses to explain her poor performance.

“Golf can be like that. Things don’t always go my way, she told Yonhap news agency. I would have liked to have done better. Regardless of the end result, it’s up to me to accept that and figure out what I can improve on. I’ll try to stay positive to be ready for the following rounds. […] I don’t want to justify that with my injury. I worked hard but didn’t get the results I wanted. My goal now is to end this tournament pain-free.”

The second round will take place on Friday (local time).

PGA: Mullinax and Woodland on top in South Carolina

In the men’s, Americans Trey Mullinax and Gary Woodland turned the best cards of the first round of the CJ Cup in Ridgeland, South Carolina to take the lead together.

Thus, Mullinax hit the ball 65 (-6) times under a performance of seven birdies and one bogey, while Woodland wedged one more birdie and one bogey.

They will have work to do to defend their position in the standings as six golfers including Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy are slightly behind, as well as six other opponents two shots down.

Corey Conners and Adam Hadwin are the only Maple Leaf representatives in action at this tournament. Conners pulled off a par 71 to take him 37th while his compatriot played par to keep him 44th.