Legend\u2019s teary triumph before boozy Aussie takeover… and why superstar could spoil party<\/a><\/p>\nWebb reflects on historic win, new stars | 03:18<\/p>\n
As for her round, Davidson putted the lights out, gaining 4.99 strokes on the field on the greens – only Yoon was better.<\/p>\n
She was also dialled in with her irons and wedges, ranked seventh in the field in approach play.<\/p>\n
\u201cDefinitely hit a lot of fairways. Hit a lot of greens. Putting was pretty on today. Really felt like I was going to hole everything,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo it was a pretty perfect round.\u201d<\/p>\n
As for how she will handle being in contention at a major in the coming days, Davidson\u2019s plan is simple.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think I just need to keep enjoying it and just try and hit the best shots I can; just really embrace the experience,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s pretty special to be up top after day one, so I\u2019m just going to embrace it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Karis Davidson of Australia plays her shot from the third tee during the first round of the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship 2026 at Hazeltine National Golf ClubSource: Getty Images<\/p>\n
Defending champion Minjee Lee was the next best of the Australians with a one-under par 71.<\/p>\n
Hannah Green, who triumphed when this tournament was last played at Hazeltine in 2019, is a shot further back after an even par 72.<\/p>\n
Australia\u2019s most recent major champion, Grace Kim, also started with a 72 as did countrywoman Robyn Choi.<\/p>\n
Gabi Ruffels was a shot further back with a 73, while Cassie Porter shot 74.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, world No.1 Nelly Korda has a fight on her hands to win a third major title this year after she opened with a two-under par 70.<\/p>\n
The American sits seven shots off the back – the same deficit she faced after the first round of the US Women\u2019s Open.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Australia\u2019s Karis Davidson made a superb start to the KPMG Women\u2019s PGA Championship with the 27-year-old firing a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":760642,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[566],"tags":[64,63,755,85],"class_list":["post-760641","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-golf","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/760641","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=760641"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/760641\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/760642"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=760641"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=760641"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=760641"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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