Fujitsu Ladies Friday: Sun-Ju Ahn Fires 64 to Take 1-Shot Lead on Erika Kikuchi

Even as many of the top Korean women golfers in the world have signed up for the LPGA-KLPGA dual-sponsored event this week in Korea (and attended or helped out with Inbee Park's wedding), Sun-Ju Ahn stayed on the JLPGA for the Fujitsu Ladies and rewarded herself with a 64 that even included a walkoff bogey.

She's not alone at the top of the leaderboard, but Knockout doesn't have much company there, either.  Erika Kikuchi birdied 5 holes in a row to start the tournament and had 8 through her 1st 13 holes, but she made 2 bogeys (and her 9th birdie of the day!) coming home and had to settle for a 65.  Onnarin Sattayabanphot fired a bogey-free 67 to keep the leaders within sight, Teresa Lu eagled the par-4 9th on her way to a 68, Rumi Yoshiba had a 6-birdie 68, and Phoebe Yao, Kaori Nakamura, and Mihoko Iseri stayed within 5 shots of Ahn.

In fact, the biggest other names in the field were pretty much left in the dust:

• 70: Sakura Yokomine, Misuzu Narita, Erina Hara, Yumiko Yoshiba, Ayaka Watanabe
• 71: Rikako Morita, Miki Sakai
• 72: Ai Miyazato, Shiho Oyama, Mamiko Higa, Ai Suzuki
• 73: Ji-Hee Lee
• 74: Yuko Mitsuka
• 75: Mika Miyazato, Miki Saiki, Natsuka Hori

Defending champion Na-Ri Lee had an unexpectedly tough day, opening with a birdieless 77.  Let's see if she can bounce back tomorrow and if anyone can make a move on Ahn!