Karis Davidson got here into the BMW Championship clinging to one of many final spots within the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship. With an $11 million purse and a $4 million first-place prize, gaining entry into the 60-player subject is a excessive precedence for LPGA gamers.
Australia’s Davidson, who presently ranks 59th on the Race to CME Globe, opened with a 6-under 66 at Pine Seashore Golf Hyperlinks, generally known as the Pebble Seashore of South Korea, on a chilly, windy day.
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“It was simply sort of a kind of excellent days with my irons and hybrids, that I almost had a hole-in-one on the primary birdie on the entrance 9,” stated Davidson, who holds a share of the lead with Japan’s Yuri Yoshida.
Julia Lopez Ramirez of Spain performs a shot from the second tee through the first spherical of the BMW Women Championship 2026 at Pine Seashore Golf Hyperlinks on October 22, 2026 in Haenam, South Korea.
Spain’s Julia Lopez Ramirez, one of many longest gamers within the sport, shot 67 to carry a share of third with world No. 3 Haeran Ryu, Lauren Coughlin and Lucy Li.
Lopez Ramirez entered the week 71st within the rankings and stated she killed time throughout a sluggish day on the course taking part in Sudoku in between pictures. She additionally soaked within the surroundings.
“Particularly when it is blue skies out right here, the views are insane,” stated Lopez Ramirez. “It is so fairly and so many bushes and the greens and little islands. You lose your thoughts getting into there.” It is fairly fairly.”
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Li entered the week 69th on the CME rankings. She birdied all of the par 5s in her opening 67.
Carlota Ciganda, Lopez Ramirez’s companion on the Solheim Cup, got here into the week No. 60 on the CME factors checklist after a fifth-place end final week in China, the place she incurred a two-stroke penalty for sluggish play. Ciganda shot 69 on Thursday in South Korea and holds a share of eighth.
Coughlin double-bogeyed the fifth gap to get to 2 over early after which made seven birdies coming in to complete 5 below. She had 28 putts on the day.
Ryu, a two-time main winner this yr who just lately gained on the KLPGA, recorded one in all 4 bogey-free rounds. She hit 17 greens in regulation, main the sphere in that class with Angel Yin. Ryu made birdie on her solely missed inexperienced of the day, the par-4 fifth.
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The BMW is the second of 4 no-cut occasions within the LPGA’s fall Asia swing. The cutoff for the CME falls on the conclusion of subsequent month’s Annika pushed by Gainbridge at Pelican in Belleair, Florida, giving gamers 4 extra alternatives to make their strikes.
Beth Ann Nichols is a Golfweek senior author protecting the LPGA and ladies’s golf.
This text initially appeared on Golfweek: CME bubble gamers making strikes early at LPGA’s BMW Championship