Staff WriterThe ShopRite LPGA opened with the sort of round that makes a leaderboard blink twice, as Laetitia Beck carded a career-low 8-under-par 63 to take the first-round lead at the ShopRite LPGA powered by Wakefern.
This was not merely a tidy Thursday with a warm putter and a polite wave to the scorer’s hut. It was Beck’s lowest 18-hole score on the LPGA Tour and the first time she has led or co-led after an opening round. For a player who spent all of 2025 on the Epson Tour, it was a rather emphatic way of announcing that she had not come back simply to admire the bunting.
Beck Finds Her Range And Her Nerve
Beck, the Rolex Rankings No. 355, returned to the LPGA Tour this year after competing on the Epson Tour in 2025. Before this week, she had made three cuts in seven LPGA starts this season, with a best finish of T27 at the Riviera Maya Open at Mayakoba.
Her ShopRite LPGA record had not exactly suggested a scoreboard ambush was imminent. This is her seventh start in the event, with previous results of missed cuts in 2024, 2019, 2017, 2016 and 2015, alongside a T55 finish in 2018.
Golf, however, has a wicked sense of timing. Just when the spreadsheet starts looking smug, somebody holes a few 15-footers and turns the whole thing upside down.
Beck credited her putting, confidence and recent work on her stroke after a round that kept gathering pace rather than politely settling down.
“It was going well today for sure. I think the confidence that I had from the other day during the pro-am, making putts, reading the lines properly, helped me trusting that I could see the line even though the greens might be a little bumpy. And I’ve been working on the strokes, and I feel more comfortable than I used to before.
Distance control was always descent this year, and the few times that I did like not hit is close I was able to putt it very close to the hole. Yeah, again, I made a few 15-footers that I usually don’t make, so that’s why — it was nice to keep going and keep making birdies.”
That, in essence, was the round. See line. Trust line. Roll ball. Repeat until everyone else starts looking slightly inconvenienced.
Nicole Broch Estrup Returns With A Bogey-Free 64
One shot behind, Nicole Broch Estrup produced one of the day’s most impressive performances, opening with a 7-under-par 64 in her first LPGA Tour start since the 2025 Founders Cup.
The Dane has been on maternity leave following the birth of her son, Max, and her return had all the makings of a gentle reintroduction. Instead, she came back with a bogey-free round despite hitting only six of 14 fairways, which is either wonderfully efficient or mildly offensive to anyone who believes golf should make sense.
It was her lowest round since the final round of the 2019 LOTTE Championship presented by Hoakalei, where she also shot 64.
“I mean, it feels great. Yeah, I mean, I’ve been looking forward to coming back for a long time, so to be here and just be able to travel with Max and Kasper as well, I feel very grateful to be out here again. Yeah, today’s score is just an extra bonus really.”
There is a lovely understatement in calling a 64 “an extra bonus”. Most golfers call that sort of thing evidence of divine intervention.
Mack, Chacon And Yubol Join The Chase
At 6-under-par, Polly Mack, Briana Chacon and Arpichaya Yubol shared third after opening rounds of 65.
Mack’s card featured six birdies and an eagle, her lowest first-round score since a 63 at the 2024 Standard Portland Classic. The highlight arrived at the third, where she turned a driver, a slightly rugged lie and an 80-footer into the sort of eagle that looks perfectly sensible only after it has disappeared into the cup.
“Yeah, sure. I hit a driver off the tee; had about 1 maybe 90, 188 to the pin. I believe it was a little downwind — must have been downwind then. A little rough lie, so we knew, okay, just landing short of the green or just on the green is perfect. Came out nicely out of the rough, sat nicely, and just rolled past the pin just on the fringe.
Was about an 80-footer. Decided to do putt it because it was playing really nicely. Had about a (indiscernible) left to right downhill, and, yeah, was just rolling very smoothly. Just perfect break how I read it and perfect speed, too, and rolled nicely in there.”
Chacon, a 2026 LPGA Tour rookie, also made a notable move, carding the lowest round of her LPGA Tour career. Her previous best was a 69 at the Ford Championship presented by Wild Horse Pass.
Yubol, meanwhile, went bogey-free, producing her best 18-hole score since the second round of the 2024 ANNIKA driven by Gainbridge at Pelican. She also arrived with recent evidence of form, having finished second at the 2026 Riviera Maya Open at Mayakoba for her best LPGA Tour finish.
A Low-Scoring Start With Record Context
The ShopRite LPGA has a history of low numbers, so Beck’s 63 lands in good company without troubling the deepest pages of the record book.
The tournament’s 18-hole scoring record remains 60, set by Linnea Strom in the third round in 2024. The 36-hole record is 130, shared by Amy Benz, Denise Killeen, Stacy Lewis, Karine Icher and Sei Young Kim. The 54-hole mark stands at 196, held by Annika Sorenstam and Anna Nordqvist.
Still, opening with 63 does not require an apology. It is a statement round, particularly from a player whose career LPGA Tour record includes two top-10 finishes and $370.3K in official earnings.
Beck has also represented Israel at the 2016 Rio Olympics and played collegiate golf at Duke University, where she was named ACC Rookie of the Year. There is pedigree here, even if the recent road back to the top of an LPGA leaderboard has been anything but straightforward.
Early Pressure, Familiar Names And One Withdrawal
Jenny Shin withdrew during the first round due to illness, reducing one storyline before it had properly formed.
For those who did finish, the first day set up a fascinating chase. Beck leads at 8-under, but Broch Estrup is only one behind, and the trio at 6-under will not feel remotely detached from the trophy conversation. On a course where scoring has already shown its friendlier face, nobody near the top can afford to spend Friday admiring Thursday’s handiwork.
The beauty of a first-round lead is also its danger. It gives you a clean view of the field. Unfortunately, it gives the field a clean view of you.
Beck’s Big Test Comes Next
The opening round belonged to Laetitia Beck because she did the hardest thing in golf: she made an exceptional day look organised.
Her putter behaved, her confidence held, and the birdies arrived often enough to make the ShopRite LPGA leaderboard feel briefly like her personal stationery. But the tournament is not won on opening day, and a first-round 63 is less a cushion than an invitation.
Now comes the awkward bit: doing something with it.
If Beck can keep the putter warm and the nerves quiet, this may become more than a fine Thursday story. For now, it is a career-low round, a first-time opening leader and a reminder that golf rarely asks permission before introducing a new plotline.
