A trio of players are tied at the top of the leaderboard on five-under-par at the end of the first day of the Aramco Championship at Shadow Creek.
Home star Lauren Coughlin is joined by Japanese duo Nasa Hataoka and Miyu Yamashita after they all fired rounds of 67 (-5) in Las Vegas.
Coughlin, who was runner-up at the LPGA Match Play in 2025, set the early pace with only one blemish on her scorecard as she rolled in birdies on holes three, seven, 10, 11, 16 and 18.
“I played really steady. I was hitting my numbers all day, and on. this course, if you’re hitting your spots and numbers, it will give you birdies If you miss them it can be very, very difficult,” said the 2024 ISPS HANDA Women’s Scottish Open champion.
“I feel like I know this place really well. I have been in a lot of the places that you don’t want to be, so I feel like I’ve been able to just know the spots that I need to land it to a lot of the pins, where to miss if you have to. It was nice to not play seven rounds hopefully in five days like last year.
“The wind was pretty light and variable out there today, so wasn’t that crazy difficult. The greens were still very firm and pretty quick. you just have to play it a lot differently. You can be super aggressive in match play, take on a lot more risk because you know it’s only one hole; whereas in stroke play you have to be more pick and choose when you can attack and when to take it easy.”
Japan’s Hataoka began her day with a bogey before bouncing back with birdies on the second and fourth, as well as the seventh and eighth holes.
The seven-time LPGA winner finished in style with a birdie on 16 and on the last to wrap up her round of five-under.
“I started with a bogey on the first hole but made a birdie on the next hole. I played pretty solid today and I made all birdies on par-5s,” said Hataoka. “Before the tournament started, we talked about my goal to be -5 total for four days.
“It wasn’t windy condition so that’s why I made so many good birdies today. But I will play in the afternoon tomorrow, so it’s going to be a little bit different to today.”
Major champion Yamashita began her first round on the 10th tee and dropped her only shot of the day on the 15th before making an eagle on 18.
The 2025 AIG Women’s Open champion then rolled in four birdies on her back nine to join Coughlin and Hataoka at the top of the leaderboard.
“The course is really hard and there are a lot of doglegs, so you can’t always hit driver off the tee. With the firm conditions, it makes it even tougher, so the greens are firm and the fairways are firm too,” said Yamashita.
“The ball travels farther than expected, so judging distance was tricky, but I could birdie on the par-5s, so it was a nice round.”
Three players are in a share of fourth place with Korea’s Hyo Joo Kim alongside American duo Jing Yan and Nelly Korda on four-under-par.
One shot further back are the quartet of England’s Hannah Screen and Cara Gainer, Scotland’s Gemma Dryburgh and American Andrea Lee in T7 on three-under-par.
Screen, who hit the opening tee shot, only had one blemish on her scorecard during day one in Las Vegas.
“It was really special,” said Screen. “I only got into this event two and a half weeks ago. I was first reserve, so just so happy to be here and be in the field. I got to play with Jenny Shin, so just to see how she went about her stuff was really special.
“My caddie and I did such a good job getting the right numbers. You can figure out the number and then you’re playing 20 short of it because the greens are extremely firm. Having that trust with each other, he was going off my gut feel and I was going off his numbers, and that really helped me today. I hit quite a few shots within three-feet, so that always helps make some birdies.”
LET winner Gainer only had one bogey during her round and finished strong rolling in birdies on holes 17 and 18 for her three-under.
“It was really nice to finish birdie-birdie, especially 17; it’s such a tricky hole,” said Gainer. “You basically have to land it within one yard to keep that near the pin. I hit a great shot to five or six feet and holed the putt. Then on 18, I hit a good drive and hit it in the right spot to get up-and-down.
“It’s a golf course that suits me. You plot your way around and it’s very strategic in that sense, it’s not really a bomber’s golf course. You have to stay patient, one shot at a time, and pick your moments as par is a good score round here. If you can plot 18 pars, you’d probably be pretty happy as well.”
The second round will begin at 7 am (local time) and there will be a cut to the top 65 and ties at the end of day two.
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