Sudoku-playing Julia Lopez Ramriez fires 67, one back at BMW Ladies

GWANGJU, South Korea — Karis Davidson had six birdies in eight holes but bogeyed her ninth Thursday for a 6-under 66 and was tied for the first-round lead at the LPGA’s BMW Ladies Championship.

Davidson, who started on the 10th hole Thursday, was level with Yuri Yoshida on the Pine Beach Golf Links southwest of Gwangju. Davidson and Yoshida are both seeking their first wins on the LPGA Tour.

No. 3-ranked Haeran Ryu shot 67 and was tied for third. Her round included a chip-in birdie from off the fifth green. Also tied for third were Americans Lucy Li and Lauren Coughlin and European Solheim Cup player Julia Lopez Ramirez.

“All I did was hit a lot of fairways, keep the approaches in a safe place and try to hole the putts,” Lopez Ramirez told the LPGA Tour website.

In an effort to stay loose during her round, Lopez Ramirez said she competed at Sudoku between shots to keep her mind off golf — and she finished the puzzle. That relaxed mindset is the plan for the weekend.

“The most important thing right now is just to keep having my fun and try to keep my mind in a really good place,” she said.

No. 7-ranked Lottie Woad, who was on the victorious European team in the Solheim Cup, shot 69. Defending champion Sei Young Kim, who ended a five-year victory drought in 2025 with a win on the Pine Beach links, had an opening 72.

Ruoning Yin, who is not in the 83-player, no-cut field this week, won last week’s tournament in Shanghai. She became the third player this season to surpass $3 million in official prize money, joining Nelly Korda ($6.2 million) and Ryu ($4.5 million).

The Maybank Championship is scheduled for next week in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, the third of four events on the tour’s late-season Asian swing. It will be followed by a tournament in Japan before the LPGA returns to Florida to wrap up the season.