Cholcheva Wongras ran away with the opening round of the 2026 Epson Tour Championship at Indian Wells — the Epson Tour's season finale — carding an 8-under round built on nine birdies against a lone bogey to post 8-under 63 on the newly renovated Players Course and take the outright first-round lead.

Wongras, a 2026 rookie from Chiang Mai, Thailand, has already clinched a top-15 finish on the season-long Race for the Card and a 2027 LPGA Tour card; she enters this week off a breakout season that included an Epson Tour win at the Reliance Matrix Championship, where she set the tour's 72-hole scoring record and tied the 18-hole scoring record with a 61. She opened with a bogey on the first hole, a par 5, before playing steady, number-based golf on firm, wind-affected greens the rest of the way, and saved her round's signature moment for the 17th, getting up-and-down from a bunker to inches after a wayward tee shot.

Behind her, Reagan Zibilski turned in the next-best round of the day, a 6-under 65, to finish second. The LCAP graduate, from Springfield, Missouri, benefited from an early tee time as part of the first group off, carding a bogey-free front nine before a lone bogey on the back was offset by a birdie on 18.

Defending champion Anne Chen was right behind at 5-under 66, picking up back-to-back birdies on both the front nine (7 and 8) and the back nine (11 and 12) before a bogey on 14 and a closing birdie on 18. Chen won last year's title in a five-hole sudden-death playoff over Sophia Schubert and chose to keep competing on the Epson Tour for part of 2026; she enters the week outside the automatic-card cutoff on the Race for the Card and needs a big week to climb back inside the top 35 or top 15.

A four-way tie for fourth at 4-under 67 formed behind the top three: Haylee Harford Sanchez, Madison Young, Gianna Clemente, and Kaleigh Telfer. Clemente, who is treating her Epson Tour seasons like a college experience, said the firm greens on the reimagined Players Course made for a fair but demanding test:

“Greens are definitely firm, but I think it's very playable and I really love the setup. I think there's some difficult holes but there's also some gettable holes too, so I think it's really fair.” She made a double bogey on the par-4 14th — by her own account one of the hardest holes on the course — before steadying herself with back-to-back par saves on 15 and 16 and closing with a birdie on 18. “I think it's really important to just stay composed, which I think comes with maturity and playing more out here,” she said of the bounce-back. “To be able to capitalize on 18 is really important.”

Cholcheva Wongras takes the 18 Lead at 2026 Epson Tour Championship

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