Danielle Kang - © Wojciech Migda via Wikimedia Commons - Creative Commons License

Kang started the year at the Four Seasons Golf and Sports Club in Orlando with an exceptional 64 (-7), bug-free card to close the round with a one-stroke lead over Jessica and Nelly Korda, as well as on defending champion Gaby Lopez.

Kang is coming off a double-titled season last year, cut short by the COVID-19 pandemic, winning two straight tournaments in Ohio when the LPGA resumed operations after a five-month hiatus.

The highlight of the day for Kang, who birdied three of the four par-3s (including a 9-yard chip-in on nine) was on hole 13, a 5-yard par 485. Facing a 220-yard descent in front of her for her second shot, having to execute a tricky strike, Kang made a daring bet with a 5-wood and made it, birdieing herself in two 6-yard shots.

She later joked that her caddy, Oliver Brett, didn't think she could make it.

"It's one of the 20 best shots I have ever seen", said Brett. “She could have foreseen it, not me. That's why she's the player. "

Kang, number 5 in the women's world rankings, has had to be quarantined twice in recent weeks after being exposed to COVID-19 and only arrived in Orlando on Monday evening. She tested negative six times before getting the green light to play.

"I think my little game was very good today"said Kang. “I had a lot of feeling and contact around the greens. "

Stacy Lewis and Brittany Lincicome were at 66. Nineteen players out of a field of 25 topped par in the Diamond Resorts Tournament of Champions.

For much of the day, all the spotlight was on the Korda sisters. Jessica played her first nine holes on 7 under par and led the standings for most of a calm, sunny day. Nelly, the field's fourth-ranked player in the world, caught up with her with a late run, letting a long putt flow for the eagle on the 17th after reaching the green with a 3 wood.

When Jessica hit her final hole, she glanced at the scoreboard to find that her little sister was suddenly outrunning her. All that for this. She embarked on a 5,5-meter birdie strike to temporarily join Nelly in the lead. The world of women's golf dreams of seeing a final between the two young stars, two sisters who are among the best American players, face off head to head with a tournament in play.

The sisters' point of view? If it happens, it happens.

"We don't think too much about it"said Nelly Korda, who made up for her first three bogeys by playing her last seven holes in 5 under par. “We're both rooted in each other, but at the end of the day we also want to fight. It's healthy competition. "

DRToC features 25 LPGA Champions associated with 53 athletes and celebrities. The $ 1,2 million LPGA game (celebrities compete for a separate prize of $ 500) is traditionally open to LPGA winners from the past two seasons. But the LPGA's condensed schedule for 000 prompted the tournament to add the 2020 winners to it.

Tennis player Mardy Fish, a former celebrity division champion, took the lead in the first round in a modified Stableford format with 41 points, two better than New York Yankees player Aaron Hicks.

To view the scoreboard: click here

To read our last article on the same subject :

DRToC LPGA: Gaby Lopez winner 2020 and Céline Boutier at the start