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The South Korean opened a one-stroke lead over
Nasa Hataoka of Japan, Cindy LaCrosse, Moriya Jutanugarn of
Thailand, Brooke Henderson of Canada, Cheyenne Woods and Nicole
Broch Larsen of Denmark at Columbia Edgewater Country Club.
The 18-year-old Hataoka's 67 was a career-best round on the LPGA
Tour.
Lexi Thompson finished in a large group at 68 after challenging
for the lead. She was 5 under through 12 holes, but a
double-bogey-6 on the par-4 17th hole stole her momentum.
"I played really well on the back nine," Thompson said. "That
was more how I was expecting to come into the day."
Chun, No. 6 the Rolex World Rankings, is playing in the Portland
event for the first time. She has six top-five finishes this
year and has four seconds.
"Coming here everyone said the course is really good. I agreed.
I like big trees. It's amazing," Chun said. "Greens are very
consistent and really good condition. I was confident on the
course."
Henderson, the two-time defending champion, is trying to pull
off the first three-peat in an event on the LPGA Tour since
Inbee Park won three straight times in the KPMG Women's PGA
Championship from 2013 to 2015. The Canadian also tring to join
Nancy Lopez as the first three-time winner in Portland.
"I think it's just exciting for me to know that I have that
opportunity to do that," the 19-year-old Henderson said. "Last
year, I wanted to defend really badly and that was kind of a
main goal of mine.
"This year, I would love to win again, but I know there are a
lot of great players in the field this week and I will have to
shoot minus-5 or better every single day."
Tour veteran Stacy Lewis, who opened with a 70, announced that
she will donate her winnings this week to the hurricane relief
efforts in Houston.
"I just saw different people doing things with birdies and all
that," Lewis said. "I just, I don't know, wanted to do something
that was going to make a difference. Just said, why not?
"But, you know, there are so many bad things going on there.
It's not just about this week. It's going to be going on for a
long time. The more help we can get down there the better."
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