MAINEVILLE, Ohio (AP) 鈥� Nelly Korda had a tough time getting out of bed Thursday morning. Any Solheim Cup fatigue had no bearing on her standard of golf, a bogey-free 67 in the Kroger Queen City Championship that left her two shots behind Ashleigh Buhai.
Korda and Leona Maguire, who also had a 5-under 67, are among 11 players who competed in the Solheim Cup last week and got right back to work at the TPC River's Bend. Savannah Grewal of Mississauga, Ont., also had a 67 on the day to be tied for fourth.
Buhai, a former Women's British Open champion from South Africa, isn't part of the Solheim Cup and had a few weeks to rest from an injury-plagued season. She ran off eight birdies for her 7-under 65, giving her a one-shot lead over Jeeno Thitikul and Yan Liu.
鈥淛ust shows that rest is just as important,鈥� Buhai said. 鈥淚 know if I give myself five days to warm up, with my coach coming in, we did good work, and, yeah, it was nice to actually just see it pay off today.鈥�
Korda at least had the afternoon for nap time after her early start. She went 3-1 in her matches last week in the Solheim Cup for the first time in seven years.
鈥淚鈥檓 looking forward to the stay-in-bed-all-day vibe today. It was definitely tough kind of waking up this morning, but I do love competing and I love being out here,鈥� Korda said. 鈥淓veryone that played last week is going to be tired. I鈥檓 just trying to take it one step at a time, know that my energy levels aren鈥檛 the greatest, but I鈥檓 still motivated.鈥�
She found additional motivation not so much from her five birdies but keeping a clean card.
鈥淭here is just no greater feeling than minimized your mistakes, or making no mistakes,鈥� Korda said. 鈥淲henever you get to play a bogey-free round I feel like it motivates you, and hopefully I can take that energy into the next three days.鈥�
Maguire only played two matches last week, having played all five matches her previous two appearances. She wasn't pleased about being sat out, especially after she easily disposed of Ally Ewing (4 and 3) in singles.
But maybe there was one upside.
鈥淟ast couple of Solheims I've played five matches, been exhausted after the Solheim,鈥� she said. 鈥淪o nice to be a little bit fresher time around.鈥�
Korda and Maguire were part of a large group at 67 that included Lydia Ko, who last played three weeks ago and had every reason to be floating on air. Along with winning Olympic gold just over a month ago, she captured the Women's British Open at St. Andrews.
Ko said her big summer 鈥� winning the gold medal got her into the LPGA Hall of Fame 鈥� still hasn't sunk in. She arrived in the Cincinnati area having to learn a new course. The tournament was held at Kenwood Country Club the last two years, which is going through some improvements.
鈥淚t's a new golf course, so all of us are just trying to get used to this TPC course and just putting ourselves in position,鈥� Ko said. 鈥淎nd sometimes I think when you do see low scores, you try and chase it too much, but I just tried to stick to my own kind of routine and my strategy.鈥�
Hamilton's Alena Sharp had a 69, while Maude-Aimee Leblanc of Sherbrooke, Que., shot 71.
Rose Zhang went 4-0 in her matches at the Solheim Cup 鈥� needing only 58 holes 鈥� and finished with three straight bogeys for a 73. Esther Henseleit had a 74, and the other seven Solheim Cup players were at par or better.
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