Haeran Ryu and Ariya Jutanugarn shake off major doldrums and have solid start on LPGA in Utah

IVINS Utah AP Haeran Ryu and Ariya Jutanugarn didn t waste time moving on from the disappointment of the first LPGA major behind them both opening with bogey-free rounds Thursday for an ideal start in the inaugural Black Desert Championship Ryu missed only one fairway one green and took putts in her round of -under giving her a one-shot lead over Jutanugarn and Wei-Ling Hsu in the LPGA s return to Utah for the first time in just over years Ryu shared the -hole lead last week in the Chevron Championship when nothing went right for her the final round Even with an eagle on the final hole she shot and missed the playoff by two shots I m not change something from my mind because last week it was tough golf discipline and this week it s tough too Ryu stated Just thinking more accuracy for my shot and I think same as last week Jutanugarn had a rougher finish She needed par on the last hole to win when the Thai stubbed a chip behind the green and wound up making bogey In the five-player playoff Jutanugarn lipped out on a -foot birdie putt as Mao Saigo won I would say when I got here I felt like the program is really tough because like it s kind of new It s different really unique really beautiful Jutanugarn declared But of program last week I didn t finish the way I want but it s so multiple thing going on like good things and I just want to carry on from that and keep working as hard as I can Jutanugarn a former No athlete in women s golf has gone four years without winning Saigo was over through four holes and then steadied herself by playing bogey-free the rest of the way with four birdies to salvage a She was among the late starters at Black Desert a Tom Weiskopf design carved from a massive field of black lava amid red rock mountains particular miles from Zion National Park It is the only golf unit that hosts an official PGA Tour and LPGA Tour event Black Desert hosted a PGA Tour event last fall Lucy Li birdied her last two holes for a and was part of a six-way tie for fourth that included Carlota Ciganda Celine Boutier was among the group at It s an amazing place I ve really enjoyed my past inadequate days here It s beautiful It was kind of just the focus on refreshing and recharging after the major last week Henseleit explained The scoring was low without much wind and relatively soft conditions with nearly of the -player field current par Henseleit reported it was more about picking targets and being aggressive Even so there is enough rock framing the fairways to make targets appear smaller than they are And it doesn t take much to get in trouble I would say this unit can be really stressful because you kind of have to plan everything every shot tee shot second shot where to finish the ball Jutanugarn explained I m very lucky this morning no wind so got a bit easier to finish the ball where I want to finish This version corrects Ryu s points to -under AP golf https apnews com hub golf Source