Minju Kim Fires 7-Under After Two-Week Break: "Lego Building Helped Me Recharge"

Tied for Lead with Saeromi Kim in 1st Round of Aurora World Championship
Aiming for Second Career Victory Since Last April's iM Finance Open
Yeji Park and Jinyoung Hong 2 Tied for 3rd, Yewon Lee in 5th Place

Minju Kim, who had a sufficient rest, delivered an impressive performance.

On July 30, at Aurora Golf & Resort (par 72) in Wonju, Gangwon Province, Minju Kim carded seven birdies without a single bogey in the first round of the Korean Ladies Professional Golf Association (KLPGA) Tour Aurora World Championship, which has a total prize of 1 billion won. After her two-week break, she resumed the competition and climbed to joint leader at 7-under-par 65 along with Saeromi Kim. Saeromi Kim recorded one eagle and five birdies. She has not secured a win on the tour yet.

Kim Minju is teeing off on the 1st hole of the 1st round at the Aurora World Championship. Photo by KLPGA

Minju Kim picked up a birdie on the 1st hole (par 5), added additional birdies on the 7th, 9th, and 11th holes, and then made consecutive birdies on the 13th and 14th holes, followed by another on the 16th (par 4), ultimately placing her name at the very top of the leaderboard. Holding a tie for first at a two-stroke margin, Kim is now positioned for her second career victory, her first since the iM Finance Open in April last year, marking a 15-month wait.

Minju Kim commented, "Playing tournaments every week under pressure made me realize I needed mental recharging, so I spent my break assembling Lego as a hobby for healing. I missed the cut at this competition last year, but yesterday I checked my attack points by walking all 18 holes, and that led to this good result."

Yeji Park and Jinyoung Hong 2 are tied for third at 5-under-par 67. Yewon Lee and Jihyun Lee 3 share fifth place at 4-under-par 68, while Yoonji Jeong, Bokyeom Park, Yunseo Heo, Eunwoo Choi, and Jihyun An are tied for seventh at 3-under-par 69. Kyolim Seo, who has won twice this year, is tied for 24th at 1-under-par 71, while Jiwoo Ko, winner of the previous tournament, the High1 Resort Women's Open, and defending champion Sohyun Bae are tied for 68th at 2-over-par 74.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.