Chella Choi, Ina Yoon, and Rio Takeda are tied for first at the Kroger Queen City Championship, each finishing the first round at 4-under par. Defending champion Charley Hull is in a tie for seventh place at 2-under par.
Key points
Three players are tied for first place at the Kroger Queen City Championship.
Chella Choi finished at 4-under par after reaching 6-under.
Ina Yoon had an eagle and a birdie in her round.
Rio Takeda recorded five birdies and one bogey.
Charley Hull is tied for seventh place at 2-under par.
Chella Choi was the first player to enter the clubhouse at 4-under, getting as far as 6-under par before bogeys on her final two holes, which also served as her first bogeys of the round. The 35-year-old has played in one event in the last two seasons after giving birth. Her lone career win came at the 2015 Marathon Classic.
Ina Yoon joined her shortly thereafter. The South Korean has plenty of momentum headed into Friday's second round after an eagle on her 16th hole and a birdie on her 17th hole. Yoon is looking to keep her streak of eight consecutive made cuts alive. Her best finish this season was a fourth-place result at the JM Eagle L.A. Championship, followed by a tie for fourth at the Chevron Championship.
Rio Takeda had the low round of any golfer that teed off in the afternoon. It was also one of the cleanest, as she recorded five birdies to just one bogey. Takeda has one win since joining the LPGA Tour; she claimed the trophy at the 2025 Blue Bay LPGA, an event where she finished tied for fifth this year.
Defending champion Charley Hull finished the first round at 2-under par and in a tie for seventh place.
Alexa Pano, of Westborough, Massachusetts, tees off during the first round of the LPGA Queen City Championship at Maketewah Country Club in Cincinnati on Thursday, May 14, 2026.
Alexa Pano, of Westborough, Massachusetts, tees off during the first round of the LPGA Queen City Championship at Maketewah Country Club in Cincinnati on Thursday, May 14, 2026.
At the 2025 Queen City Championship at TPC River's Bend, 92 players were under par after the first round, with seven players at 6-under or better. With the change to Maketewah, there are just 29 players in negative figures.
Q&A
Who are the leaders at the Kroger Queen City Championship?
Chella Choi, Ina Yoon, and Rio Takeda are the three players tied for the lead at 4-under par.
What were Chella Choi's performance highlights in the first round?
Chella Choi reached 6-under par before finishing at 4-under, marking her first bogeys on the last two holes.
How did Ina Yoon perform in the first round of the tournament?
Ina Yoon finished at 4-under par, highlighted by an eagle on her 16th hole and a birdie on her 17th hole.
What position is defending champion Charley Hull in after the first round?
Defending champion Charley Hull is tied for seventh place at 2-under par after the first round.
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The scoring was relatively even for the day, as the morning wave played the course to an average of 72.1 while the 71 golfers that teed off in the afternoon finished with an average of 72.7.
Here are all the highlights from Thursday's first round.
Rio Takeda creates three-way tie for first
Takeda slowly worked her way up the leaderboard before storming into a tie for the lead with birdies on her 15th and 16th holes. She has set herself up to surpass her best finish so far this season when she tied for fifth at the Blue Bay LPGA in Hainan, China.
Erika Hara currently has the lowest score of any player still on the course. She is at 2-under after 17 holes.
Jin Young Ko cards opening-round 67
The South Korean had a rocky front nine, carding three birdies and three bogeys, but calmed down at the turn, birdieing the 10th, 11th and 17th holes to move into a tie for fourth place, just one shot back of the lead, as Day 1 winds down.
Lydia Ko finishes at 2-under
The Kiwi got within one shot of the lead after a birdie on No. 17, but her tee shot on the par-3 18th went long into the rough, and her par putt slid by the hole on the low side as she carded an opening-round 68.
Nelly Korda closed her round with four straight pars, going into the clubhouse at 1-under and in a tie for 11th. Jeeno Thitikul joined her at 1-under after recording bogeys on Nos. 15 and 16.
Rio Takeda ties the lead at Kroger Queen City Championship
Thanks to back-to-back birdies on the fifth and sixth holes, Takeda moved to 4-under and into a tie with Ina Yoon and Chella Choi. With a par-5 and a par-3 in the closing stretch, the second-year tour pro has a chance to eclipse her best opening round of the season, a 66 at the Ford Championship.
Rio Takeda becomes third player on the course at 3-under
Just like Lilia Vu, Takeda began her round on the back nine. A birdie on the fifth hole made her the third player in the afternoon wave to get to within one shot of the lead. As Takeda made her move, Jeeno Thitikul bogeyed the par-4 15th hole to drop back to 2-under.
Jeeno Thitikul joins the party at 3-under
Moments after Lilia Vu got within one shot of the lead, Thitikul birdied the par-5 14th hole, which is the ANG Risk Reward Challenge Hole this week. Lydia Ko and Nelly Korda also birdied the 14th hole. Ko is at 2-under par and Korda is at 1-under par.
Lilia Vu moves to within one shot of the lead
Thanks to four birdies in an eight-hole stretch, the American has moved into a tie for third place at 3-under. Vu started on the back nine and has a chance to take the clubhouse lead, finishing with the par-5 seventh hole and par-3 ninth hole.
Jennifer Kupcho, Rio Takeda join log-jam at 2-under
After a bogey on No. 6, Kupcho eagled the par-5 seventh to move into a tie for fourth. Takeda, who started on the back nine, birdied the par-4 17th hole and started her second nine just two shots back of the lead. Jeongeun Lee5 and Ssu-Chia Cheng, who teed off in the afternoon wave, are also two-under par. Charley Hull is currently the only golfer in the clubhouse at 2-under.
Nelly Korda makes the turn at minus-1
The World No. 1 converted a long birdie putt from the front of the green on No. 9, breaking a string of eight pars to begin her round. Her playing partners, World No. 2 Jeeno Thitikul and World No. 9 Lydia Ko, both made the turn at even-par. Ko made bogey on No. 3 but birdied No. 7 to get back to even-par. Thithikul sat at 3-over through six holes but birdied three in a row heading to the back nine.
Jeongeun Lee5 off to hot start
The South Korean quickly moved into the top 5 thanks to a pair of birdies on No. 1 and No. 4, both par-4s. The 37-year-old has not yet recorded a top-10 finish this season, and her last made cut was at the Ford Championship in Chandler, Arizona, in late March.
Emma McMyler cards a 70 in return to Maketewah
Former Xavier standout Emma McMyler was 1-under with two holes to go before a double bogey on No. 17. She bounced back with a birdie on the par-3 18th to card an even-par 70. She is tied for 26th, but just one shot back from being in the top 5.
Amanda Doherty moves one shot back of the lead
Amanda Doherty is now in solo third place at 3-under after a birdie on No. 8. She is 3-under through eight on the back-9 after scoring even (35) on the front.
Xavier product Emma McMyler climbs into tie for sixth place
Former Xavier golf standout Emma McMyler was one of four players to record a double bogey on No. 9. Since then, she's played the back-9 at two-under, recently notching a birdie on the par-5 14th to move into a tie for sixth place.
Ina Yoon tied for clubhouse lead at Kroger Queen City Championship
There have been more bogeys and double bogeys combined (30) at the par-3 ninth hole than pars and birdies (23) thus far.
Ina Yoon managed a par on the 217-yard hole to remain tied with Chella Choi for the clubhouse lead at 4-under.
Amanda Doherty, Jasmine Suwanna and Charley Hull are tied for third at 2-under. Doherty and Suwanna each have three holes to play.
Nelly Korda tees off at Kroger Queen City Championship
The group featuring World No. 1 Nelly Korda, two-time Kroger Queen City Championship runner-up Jeeno Thitikul and former winner Lydia Ko has teed off at Maketewah, beginning on the front-9.
Korda two-putted on back-to-back holes to open the day with a pair of pars. Thitikul opened with a birdie but bogeyed the par-3 second to go back to even. Lydia Ko missed the fairway on her first tee shot but has still hit both greens in regulation thus far, settling for back-to-back pars.
Ina Yoon moves into a tie for first place at Kroger Queen City Championship
After back-to-back bogeys, Ina Yoon had an eagle on the par-5 seventh hole and just birdied No. 8 to move into a tie for first place at 4-under. She'll try to grab the clubhouse lead with a birdie on No. 9, which has been a difficult hole for golfers so far on the opening day of the tournament.
Charley Hull ends opening round with bogey
The 217-yard, par-3 ninth hole continues to prove difficult in the first round of the Kroger Queen City Championship. Reigning winner Charley Hull ended her round with a bogey on No. 9 to fall two shots back of the lead. She ends the first round with a 2-under 68, hitting 15 of 18 greens in regulation.
Chella Choi ends round with back-to-back bogeys
Chella Choi still has the solo lead in the first round of the Kroger Queen City Championship but it's only a one-shot advantage after ending the round with back-to-back bogeys.
Choi ties a season-best round of 66 to open her first Kroger Queen City Championship appearance since 2022. Reigning champ Charley Hull sits alone in second place at 3-under with one hole remaining.
Former Xavier Musketeer Emma McMyler notches bounce-back birdie
LPGA rookie Emma McMyler, the former Xavier standout, had trouble in a bunker and suffered a double bogey on the par-3 ninth hole. After the turn, she birdied the par-4 10th to move back to even for the day and into a tie for 14th place.
Charley Hull surges into tie for second place
Reigning champion Charley Hull was even through 14 holes before a birdie on No. 6 and an eagle on the par-5 7th hole. She catapults up the leaderboard at 3-under into a tie with Friday Kinhult.
They are two strokes back of Chella Choi, who suffered her first bogey of the first round on No. 8.
Chella Choi has three-shot lead in first round of Kroger Queen City Championship
Bogey-free through 16 holes, Chella Choi now holds a three-shot first-round lead after her back-to-back birdies on the par-4 6th and par-5 7th. She now sits at 6-under with Ina Yoon at 3-under.
The 35-year-old Choi's lone career LPGA Tour win was in Ohio in July 2015 at the Marathon Classic in Toledo.
Lexi Thompson cools off after hot start
Lexi Thompson, an 11-time LPGA Tour winner, opened her morning round with three consecutive birdies. In the 10 holes since, she has four bogeys, one double bogey, four pars and just birdied on No. 4 to move back to 2-under for the day.
Xavier product Emma McMyler moves into eighth place
In a low-scoring opening round thus far, former Xavier Musketeer Emma McMyler is now tied for eighth place at 1-under. The LPGA rookie opened the round with a bogey, but landed birdies on the par-4 5th and par-5 7th hole to move under par.
Current Xavier senior Madison Reemsnyder is 3-over through seven holes.
Ina Yoon moves into tie for second place at Kroger Queen City Championship
Ina Yoon, a 23-year-old in her second year on the LPGA Tour, is now tied for second place at 3-under. Yoon has made birdie on three of the last four holes to climb the leaderboard despite hitting just 3 of 8 fairways.
She has made the cut in all eight of her starts this season and has logged three top 10 finishes.
Chella Choi maintains lead at Kroger Queen City Championship
It's beginning to heat up in Bond Hill with the sun shining, but birdies have still been hard to come by early on. Chella Choi has played 13 bogey-free holes with four birdies to maintain the solo lead in the first round.
Frida Kinhult and Andrea Lee are both one shot back at 3-under.
When does Nelly Korda tee off at Kroger Queen City Championship?
World No. 1 Nelly Korda will tee off with No. 2 Jeeno Thitikul and 2024 Kroger Queen City Championship winner Lydia Ko at 12:48 p.m. on No. 1.
Korda and Thitikul have combined for five wins on the LPGA Tour this season. Korda captured the Riviera May Open May 3 and the Chevron Championship in April. Thitikul won the Mizuho Americas Open May 7, an event that Korda skipped.
Cincinnati native Alexandra Swayne tees off
Alexandra Swayne, a Maketewah member and former Kings High School standout, has started the day with four consecutive pars. Swayne is on the Ladies European Tour and is making her third career LPGA Tour start.
Former Xavier teammates tee off at Kroger Queen City Championship
Former Xavier teammates Madison Reemsnyder and Emma McMyler were in the 9:16 a.m. tee time. Reemsnyder, a Xavier senior, received a sponsor's invitation to the event. McMyler is a rookie on the LPGA Tour.
Reemsnyder opened her LPGA debut with a 285-yard drive that found the fairway. She eventually two-putted for par. McMyler bogeyed the 355-yard par-4.
Defending champion Charley Hull begins title defense
Reigning champ Charley Hull is 1-under through six after beginning the day with five consecutive pars before a birdie on the par-4 15th. Hull had hit every green in regulation before getting the birdie putt to fall.
Chella Choi has early lead at Kroger Queen City Championship
Chella Choi is the early solo lead at Maketewah after notching back-to-back birdies to begin the round. After back-to-back pars, she birdied the par-5 14th hole and sits at 3-under.
Kroger Queen City Championship underway at Maketewah Country Club
The first shots of the Kroger Queen City Championship were fired at 7:15 a.m. On No. 1, the first group was Ohio native Jessica Porvasnik, Albane Valenzuela and Isabella Fierro. The trio of Anne Chen, Gigi Stoll and Carla Tejedo Mulet began on No. 10.