Kim Se-young Fires 8-Under to Chase 14th Career Victory
Kim Se-young Takes One-Shot Lead After FM Championship First Round
Yamashita and Pedersen Tied for Second, Lee So-mi in Fourth
Yoo Hae-ran and Kim Hyo-joo Tied for Fifth, Korda Sits at 39th
World No. 9 Kim Se-young is making a strong push for victory.
On August 28 (Korean time), at TPC Boston (par 72, 6,533 yards) in Norton, Massachusetts, USA, she surged to the top of the leaderboard after firing an 8-under-par 64 in the first round of the LPGA Tour FM Championship, which has a total purse of 4.4 million dollars. Last week’s CPKC Women’s Open champion Miu Yamashita (Japan) and Emily Kristine Pedersen (Denmark) are close behind in joint second place at 7-under-par 65, trailing by one shot.
Se-young Kim is carefully reading the slope of the green at the 4th hole in the first round of the FM Championship. Photo by Norton=AFP Yonhap News
View original imageKim Se-young recorded one eagle and six birdies. After starting on the 10th hole, she picked up two birdies on the 14th and 18th holes in the first nine. In the back nine, she made back-to-back birdies on holes 2–3 and holes 5–6, and then scored an eagle on the 7th hole (par 5). Her average driving distance was 278 yards, and she totaled 24 putts, both serving as strong engines for her round. Kim Se-young now faces a chance at her 14th career win, just 10 months after her previous title at the BMW Ladies Championship in October 2025.
Korean golfers dominated the top of the leaderboard. Lee So-mi stands in fourth place (6-under-par 66), while world No. 3 Yoo Hae-ran and world No. 4 Kim Hyo-joo are tied for fifth (4-under-par 68). Kim A-lim, Lim Jin-hee, and Choi Wun-jung finished the round in a tie for 15th (2-under-par 70), while Lee Mi-hyang, Lee Dong-eun, and Joo Soo-bin are tied for 24th (1-under-par 71).
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Meanwhile, world No. 1 and tournament favorite Nelly Korda (USA) could not move up the leaderboard, posting one eagle, two birdies, and four bogeys. World No. 2 Atthaya Thitikul (Thailand), New Zealand’s Lydia Ko, Choi Hye-jin, Shin Ji-eun, and others finished the first round in a tie for 39th at even-par 72. Yang Hee-young withdrew from the event.
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