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After starting with four birdies on the back nine of Dundonald
Links and taking her lone bogey at the par-5 third hole, Choi
eagled the par-5 fifth and rolled in three straight birdies at
Nos. 7-9.
It was enough to give her an edge over France's Celine Boutier,
New Zealand's Lydia Ko and Lilia Vu, who fired rounds of 7-under
65.
"That hole I made bogey, I didn't expect that there was a hazard
because I just practiced once this week," Choi said. "I was
pretty upset when I missed and I really try to be calm on next
hole. Luckily, I made eagle with long putt and that was the
momentum for today."
Choi, 22, is ranked No. 24 in the world and has won 11 times on
the LPGA of Korea Tour but has yet to break through with the
LPGA. She has performed well at the majors, including a
third-place finish at the U.S. Women's Open and a T5 at the
Women's PGA Championship.
"Today I had really good shots overall," Choi said. "But more
than my shots, my putter was very good so I had a lot of
chances. I just made birdies when I got the chance and I played
well with a good attitude on the rest of my holes."
Boutier and Ko each shot bogey-free rounds with seven birdies
apiece, while Vu made eight birdies against just one bogey.
As LPGA players prepare for next week's Women's British Open,
the fifth and final major of the season, Ko is among those with
major talent looking to get back on the podium. Ko won two
majors, but none since the 2016 ANA Inspiration.
Ko also tied for second at last year's Scottish Open.
"I played really solid. I gave myself good looks," Ko said of
her 65. "And I think even when I made mistakes I was like pretty
calm about things. And the weather was a lot nicer than I
thought it was going to be."
England's Georgia Hall and South Korea's Narin An are tied for
fifth at 6-under 66. Australian Minjee Lee highlighted a group
of seven players tied at 5-under 67.
Defending champion Ryann O'Toole opened with a 4-under 68. She
was tied for 14th with Japan's Nasa Hataoka, Thailand's Jasmine
Suwannapura and England's Bronte Law.
The low Scot through one round was Gemma Dryburgh (3-under 69).
--Field Level Media
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