Chandni Canan BauerA scorecard showing eight birdies and not a single bogey usually suggests a fairly agreeable day at the office. Hye-Jin Choi had a rather different experience.
The Korean opened the 2026 Buick LPGA Shanghai with an eight-under-par 64 at Sheshan Golf Club, establishing a three-shot advantage over Carlota Ciganda after the first round. It was the lowest round of Choi’s season, matched her career-best opening score and left her as one of only three players in the field to complete 18 holes without a bogey.
Yet beneath those tidy numbers was a rather more demanding round, one in which saving pars proved every bit as important as collecting birdies.
Eight birdies, but the pars made the difference
Choi’s eight birdies were the joint-highest total in the field, alongside Ciganda. What separated them was the absence of mistakes.
Keeping a bogey off the card at Sheshan demanded considerably more work than the final score suggested. Choi acknowledged that several holes had threatened to become costly before she rescued them with recovery shots and putting.
“I really feel like I’m kind of exhausted, and today was — like I feel like I really did hard work today. Some of the situations I felt like couldn’t make a par save but I made a good shot and good putt on the par saves, and I’m really satisfied about myself.”
There is something revealing about a player describing a 64 as exhausting. The birdies provide the excitement, but it is often the pars made under pressure that determine how good a round becomes.
For Choi, the score also marked her first 64 since the opening round of the 2025 Maybank Championship, where she eventually finished tied second.
That previous result is a reminder of both her ability to get into contention and the difficulty of converting a flying start into an LPGA Tour victory.
Ciganda matches the birdies but pays for three mistakes
Carlota Ciganda was equally prolific when it came to making birdies. The Spaniard also collected eight, although three bogeys left her signing for a five-under 67.
That difference matters. Choi and Ciganda created the same number of scoring opportunities that ended in birdies, but only one emerged with an unblemished card.
Still, Ciganda has arrived in Shanghai with encouraging scoring form.
Her 67 matched her lowest round of the season and represented a second consecutive LPGA Tour round at that number, following her closing 67 at the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship presented by P&G.
It also equalled her best opening round of 2026, previously recorded at the Riviera Maya Open at Mayakoba.
Three shots is a significant first-round gap. It is hardly an insurmountable one with 54 holes remaining, particularly for a player already demonstrating that she can make birdies in bunches.
Yin leads the home interest as Thitikul stays in touch
Behind the leading pair, Grace Kim, Chanettee Wannasaen and China’s Ruoning Yin were among the players tied third on four-under 68.
For Yin, the opportunity to contend in front of a home crowd adds another dimension to the tournament.
“I mean, the fans are amazing and they’re rooting for me if I play bad or no matter I played bad or good, they just always cheering for me, which I really appreciate it. But, you know, I still want to have a better performance for the next three days. Just, you know, make them proud.”
Wannasaen, meanwhile, identified finding the fairway as particularly important on a long course where missed fairways make reaching greens considerably more difficult.
Grace Kim offered another reminder that Sheshan rewards sensible course management. Even on the shorter holes, she stressed the value of following a clear strategy rather than forcing aggressive shots, particularly when laying up can still leave a good birdie opportunity.
Defending champion Jeeno Thitikul opened with a three-under 69, five strokes behind Choi.
That round continued a notable tournament pattern: Thitikul has shot 70 or better in every round she has played at the Buick LPGA Shanghai.
She has ground to recover, although an opening 69 is hardly a reason for the defending champion to become alarmed.
Choi’s Shanghai record makes this lead particularly interesting
Choi has been a consistent presence near the upper reaches of the Buick LPGA Shanghai leaderboard.
In three previous appearances, she finished tied third in 2023, tied fifth in 2024 and tied 11th in 2025. This is her fourth start in the tournament, and her opening round has given her an excellent opportunity to improve on those results.
Her wider 2026 season has been solid without producing an individual LPGA Tour victory.
Choi arrived in Shanghai ranked 15th in the Race to CME Globe standings, with four top-10 finishes, approximately $1.1 million in official seasonal earnings and 17 cuts made from 22 starts.
Her most notable result was a runner-up finish alongside Hyo Joo Kim at the Dow Championship. She also finished tied 13th at the LOTTE Championship presented by Hoakalei in her most recent start.
The absence of an LPGA Tour win remains the conspicuous gap in an otherwise substantial professional record.
Choi has accumulated 33 career LPGA top-10 finishes and $7.2 million in official career earnings. She is also a 12-time winner on the KLPGA Tour and represented the Republic of Korea at the Hanwha LIFEPLUS International Crown in both 2023 and 2025.
Her proximity to the top level was apparent early in her LPGA career, when she finished second to Thitikul in the 2022 Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year standings.
The ability has never been especially difficult to identify. Turning that ability into a first LPGA title is the outstanding task.
A different Shanghai course, and plenty of golf left
There is one important distinction surrounding the tournament’s scoring history.
The Buick LPGA Shanghai’s 18-hole record remains the 61 recorded by Minami Katsu in the opening round of the 2025 edition. Katsu also holds the tournament’s 36-hole record of 131, while Mao Saigo posted the 54-hole mark of 198 in 2024 and Ruoning Yin established the 72-hole record of 263 that same year.
All those records were set at Qizhong Garden Golf Club, rather than Sheshan, which is hosting this year’s competition.
Choi’s 64 therefore deserves to be judged primarily on what it has accomplished this week: a three-shot lead, her best round of the year and a chance to pursue an overdue first LPGA Tour title.
For a player who finished her opening round feeling exhausted, it is a fairly rewarding position from which to start the next 54 holes.
