Andy DevaneyThe Kroger Queen City Championship did not exactly roll out the red carpet in round one. Maketewah Country Club served up narrow fairways, awkward greens, thick rough and just enough morning chill to make even Charley Hull dress like she was preparing to rob a bank in the Arctic.
At the end of it all, three players had solved the puzzle better than most.
Ina Yoon, Chella Choi and Rio Takeda opened with matching four-under 66s to share the first-round lead, while Jin Young Ko, Lilia Vu and Amanda Doherty sit one shot back after tidy 67s.
For a leaderboard after 18 holes, it has a bit of everything: rising form, veteran resilience, elite ball-striking, rediscovered confidence and a course that appears to have no interest whatsoever in handing out charity.
Yoon Finds Her Process And Her Putter
Ina Yoon’s 66 was more than a strong start. It marked the first time in her career she has held or shared an 18-hole lead on the LPGA Tour.
It was also her lowest first-round score of the season and a six-shot improvement on her previous best round at the Kroger Queen City Championship. That is not a gentle nudge forward; that is reversing a golf cart over last year’s scorecard and starting again.
The key number was 26 putts, tied for the fewest in the field. On a course where approach shots can leave players staring at rolling, awkward surfaces with the expression of someone trying to assemble flat-pack furniture without instructions, Yoon’s touch on the greens was decisive.
She was also one of six players to make an eagle in round one.
Yoon, ranked No. 41 in the Rolex Rankings, is making her second start at the event after missing the cut in 2025. This season has been a much sturdier affair. She has made eight cuts from eight starts, recorded three top-10 finishes, and produced back-to-back top-four results at the JM Eagle LA Championship and The Chevron Championship.
Her explanation was refreshingly unromantic. No thunderbolts. No mystical secrets. Just work.
“Just try to focus what I’m working on, the range session and putting green, like practice green. Just try not to think of result. Just try to focus what I’m — what I need to do. So, yeah, I think that part I think I did pretty well today, and also last few weeks. I really work on process with my mental coach, so, yeah, I think it helps me a lot.”
That is the kind of answer coaches frame and put above a locker room door.
Chella Choi Shows Old Teeth In A New Chapter
Chella Choi’s opening 66 carried a different flavour.
The former Dana Open champion is returning to competition after maternity leave, and while she may sit 103rd in the 2026 Race to CME Globe standings, there is nothing decorative about 51 career LPGA top-10 finishes. That is not a résumé. That is a decade-long habit.
Choi opened on the back nine and reached the turn in three-under 32. She remained bogey-free until her 17th hole of the day, before finishing bogey-bogey. A lesser round might have sagged badly there. Hers merely limped across the line still good enough to lead.
This is the seventh time Choi has held or shared the 18-hole lead on the LPGA Tour, and her first since the 2021 ISPS Handa World Invitational. It also tied her best opening round of the season, matching the 66 she shot at the JM Eagle LA Championship.
Her view of Maketewah was blunt, honest and probably shared by half the field after round one.
“It’s super hard golf course here. Like fairways very narrow and green is — green is not like flat, like so many bumpy here. If I hit the fairway it’s really tough to hit the pin. But it’s not a flat pin, too, so it’s really difficult golf course here. And rough is very thick, so I just trying to hit the fairway is the key.”
That last sentence is the whole championship in eight words: hit the fairway is the key.
Takeda’s Green-Hitting Clinic
Rio Takeda produced the cleanest tee-to-green performance of the leading trio.
The Rolex Rankings No. 19 led the field in greens in regulation with 17. Even better, she missed her first green and then hit the next 17 in a row, which is less a statistic and more a public service announcement for iron play.
Takeda made just one bogey, tied for the lowest number in the field alongside six others. She has now held or shared the 18-hole lead three times on the LPGA Tour, and in the previous two instances she did not finish outside the top four.
That should get everyone’s attention.
This is also her second straight 66 at the Kroger Queen City Championship, having shot the same number in the final round at TPC River’s Bend in 2025. She finished T38 last year, but her profile has sharpened since then.
Takeda has made seven cuts in nine starts this season with two top-10 finishes, including back-to-back strong weeks at the HSBC Women’s World Championship, where she finished T8, and Blue Bay LPGA, where she finished T5. She missed the cut at the Mizuho Americas Open in her last start, so this was a tidy bit of re-entry.
A two-time LPGA Tour winner, Takeda won the 2024 TOTO Japan Classic as a non-member before adding the 2025 Blue Bay LPGA. She also represented Japan at the 2025 Hanwha LIFEPLUS International Crown.
There is pedigree here, and after 17 straight greens, plenty of control too.
Ko, Vu And Doherty Keep The Leaders Honest
A single shot behind the leaders, Jin Young Ko, Lilia Vu and Amanda Doherty all signed for three-under 67s.
Ko’s round included six birdies, tied for second most in the field. It was her lowest round at the Kroger Queen City Championship and her first round in the 60s at the event. It also matched her best round of the season, having carded a 67 in round two of the Honda LPGA Thailand.
For a player of Ko’s class, the language after the round was not about domination. It was about enjoyment and momentum.
“I’m just trying to having fun on the course. I mean, overall this year I struggle to my game play well, so I hope today is like keep momentum to get better the rest of the season. So we’ll see.”
Lilia Vu’s 67 was her best round of the season and her best opening round since the Ford Championship presented by Wild Horse Pass in 2025. Like Takeda, she made only one bogey.
Vu’s round also had a clear psychological hinge.
“I think I just started to trust my game a little better. I know this course is tough. It’s hard to hit the fairway. Sometimes you just need a little bit of luck to get there. But I birdied from even the rough, and I think I that gave me some sort of confidence. I hit a really good drive on 17. That’s probably one of the hardest holes in my opinion just to hit the fairway. I was maybe just a foot in the rough, hit a good shot to like three feet and then figured, okay, I can birdie from the rough if I need to. I think that kind of propelled me and gave me some confidence moving into the other nine.”
That is how tournament rounds often turn: not with fireworks, but with one shot that reminds a player who they are.
Doherty’s 67 carried its own weight. It was her best round of the season and her first round in the 60s this year. She is making only her third start of the season, having finished T20 at the Riviera Maya Open at Mayakoba to reshuffle into the field this week.
“Yeah, I’m really excited to be – I mean, honestly I’m excited to be playing this week. It wasn’t a given in Mexico, and, yeah, the last couple years have been tough so, so to get back to kind of full-ish status for the rest of the season kind of and get some more starts, I’m really excited about it.”
Sometimes a 67 is not just a score. It is a door opening.
Hull Stays Close After Layered Morning Start
Charley Hull sits T7 at two-under, close enough to be relevant and experienced enough not to panic after one lap.
Hull knows this championship well. She set the 54-hole tournament scoring record of 200 in 2025 at TPC River’s Bend, and with the week still young, two-under is hardly a bad place from which to stalk.
Her main battle early on sounded less like a leaderboard issue and more like a laundry problem.
“I was actually pretty warm this morning, so wasn’t too bad. I just had like three layers in and two pairs of trousers on and my rain pants on, so it wasn’t too bad. The weather is nice now, so, yeah, hopefully it gets a bit warmer during the week. In the afternoons it’s completely fine. It’s first that first little bit in the morning.”
There are few things more British than describing three layers, two pairs of trousers and rain pants as “wasn’t too bad.”
Leaderboard Context After Round One
At four-under, Yoon, Choi and Takeda have separated themselves by the width of one birdie from a chasing group with genuine substance.
Takeda entered the week ranked 28th in the 2026 Race to CME Globe, with two top-10 finishes this season and $348.6K in official season earnings. Yoon came in 11th, with three top-10s and $829.2K earned this season. Choi, ranked 103rd in the Race to CME Globe, has made five cuts in six starts and brings the heaviest career résumé of the trio, with one LPGA Tour win and 51 career top-10 finishes.
The contrast is part of the appeal.
Takeda is the high-ranked ball-striker with recent winning credentials. Yoon is the ascending player finding comfort in process. Choi is the experienced campaigner proving that form can return without asking permission.
Behind them, Ko and Vu add heavyweight pressure, while Doherty brings the dangerous freedom of a player grateful simply to have more starts and playing like she intends to use them.
Maketewah Keeps The Records Safe For Now
The opening 66s were excellent, but the tournament scoring records remain untouched.
The 18-hole mark stands at 63, shared by Chanette Wannasaen in round one in 2025, Lydia Ko in round four in 2024, Nasa Hataoka in round two in 2023, and Jeongeun Lee6 in round two in 2022.
Peiyun Chien owns the 36-hole record of 130 from 2023, Charley Hull holds the 54-hole mark at 200 from 2025, and Lydia Ko’s 265 from 2024 remains the 72-hole record.
Those numbers matter because they frame the challenge. This is not a week where players can simply drift into contention. Maketewah appears ready to punish loose driving, test wedge control and make putting feel like a conversation with a mischievous uncle.
The Early Shape Of The Championship
The Kroger Queen City Championship has opened with a leaderboard that feels nicely unstable.
Three at the top. Three one shot back. Hull lurking. Maketewah growling. And enough proven LPGA Tour quality within touching distance to make round two feel less like a continuation and more like a sorting office for ambition.
Yoon’s putter was the sharpest tool in the shed. Takeda’s iron play was borderline surgical. Choi’s round was a reminder that class does not vanish; it merely waits for a fairway to find.
There is still a long walk left, of course. First-round leads are delicate creatures. They look splendid on Thursday and can disappear by Friday afternoon faster than a provisional ball into knee-high rough.
But after one round at Maketewah, the Kroger Queen City Championship has exactly what it needs: a crowded summit, a course with attitude, and a chasing pack good enough to make everyone at four-under sleep lightly.
