Epson Tour graduate Auston Kim is tied for the lead early after day one of the Blue Bay LPGA, carding a bogey-free, 4-under 68 on Thursday at the Jian Lake Blue Bay Course to hold a share of first alongside major champions Ayaka Furue and A Lim Kim.

It was a steady effort from the second-year LPGA Tour member, who collected two birdies on the par-4 6th and 9th holes on the front nine and then picked up two more birdies on the par-5 14th and 18th holes coming in to post her second-lowest 18-hole score this season. Kim hit nine of 14 fairways and 12 of 18 greens, but she gave a lot of credit to her putting as the big reason for the solid early effort, needing only 26 putts in round one to post her 68.

“I think it was a bit of a grind the first nine holes,” Kim said. “I got a really good break on two. I managed to grind out a couple of pars early. Made a lot of good putts. I just kept telling myself, you're making good putts for par. Same thing for when I will have birdie chances in the future. Putting feels good, so just keep the faith and stay strong, basically.”

Auston was a 2024 LPGA Tour rookie, securing status by finishing third in the Epson Tour’s Race for the Card in 2023 when the season-long competition was still based on the Official Money List. Her top-three finish in the Race was thanks in large part to her victory at the Epson Tour Championship, a tournament that she won after going 64-65-65 in her final three rounds at LPGA International in Daytona Beach, Fla. to defeat Gurleen Kaur and Kaleigh Telfer by two strokes with a four-day total of 23-under.

The Florida native had a solid debut season on the LPGA Tour, earning three top-10 finishes at the LPGA Drive On Championship, where she tied for sixth; the Dow Championship, where she tied for fifth alongside her playing partner Grace Kim; and the LOTTE Championship presented by Hoakalei, where she finished solo third.

Kim wrapped up her year at 63rd in the Race to the CME Globe, just three spots shy of qualifying for her first CME Group Tour Championship, which last year featured a total prize fund of $11 million for the very first time. While she was a bit disappointed to have missed out on the opportunity to tee it up at Tiburón Golf Club, the 2024 season had plenty of positive on-the-course moments from which Kim could glean some confidence and self-belief as she turned the page to 2025.

But Kim feels like she grew more as a person than anything else after her experiences as a rookie and is carrying the lessons she learned from last season into a new year on the LPGA Tour, determined to continue making the most of the incredible opportunity she has to compete at the highest level.

“I definitely feel a lot more comfortable. That's probably the goal every single time that we're playing a round out here,” Kim said. “But I'm also being really kind to myself and slowly getting more understanding of the mistakes and the fact that it's hard playing competitive golf. I'm trying not to live and die with every shot. It's just golf. It's just a game. I'm very fortunate to do what I'm doing.

“I'm just playing each round with the mindset that this is a check-in, and I'm just seeing where my game is at. Felt pretty good today.”

This is Kim’s fourth start of the 2025 season, and in her three previous events, she has missed one cut at the Founders Cup presented by U.S. Virgin Islands and earned one top-15 result, a tie for 14th at the Honda LPGA Thailand in her tournament debut. This is the second time she has competed in the Blue Bay LPGA, and after the first round, she appears to be well on her way to drastically improving upon the tie for 37th she recorded in this event last season as the Epson Tour winner currently holds the first 18-hole lead/co-lead of her LPGA Tour career.

But there are still 54 holes to go in the People’s Republic of China, and Kim knows that even though she has made an early impact at the Jian Lake Blue Bay Course, she will need to keep things rolling if she wants a shot at collecting her first career LPGA Tour title this week at the Blue Bay LPGA.

“Just trusting in the work I've been putting in, being patient,” said Kim when asked about her mindset over the next three rounds. “If a bogey comes, it's alright. I can bounce back. Being as aggressive as I can and trying to make as many birdies as I can while trying to minimize the mistakes. That's always the goal.”

Epson Tour Graduate Auston Kim Tied for the Lead After Round One of Blue Bay LPGA

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