Marina Alex carded a bogey-free, 4-under-par 68 to take the lead after one round of the inaugural FM Championship on Thursday at TPC Boston in Norton, Mass.
After she started her round on the back nine, Alex’s final birdie came at the par-5 seventh hole, breaking her out of a nine-way tie at 3 under. She finished her day with two pars to maintain that one-stroke edge at a course that formerly hosted PGA Tour events.
“I really like the course,” Alex said. “Playing the practice rounds, I felt like it set up well for my golf game, and it’s dried out a little bit even from Tuesday and yesterday, so that’s kind of helping me off the tee just get a little bit more distance.
“Just felt like it wasn’t so long that I was hitting long clubs in. I’m not the longest hitter, so being able to hit wedges and short irons despite the firmness of greens was helpful, and I managed my game really well today.”
The 34-year-old from New Jersey is a two-time winner on the LPGA Tour, hoisting trophies in 2018 and 2022. She has slipped to No. 121 in the world rankings and has missed four cuts in her past six starts.
“It’s just kind of really trying to be patient and waiting for the opportunity to show up,” Alex said. “A lot of times you’re trying to force it, make that good round happen every week, every day. That’s the goal. You want to play good. Sometimes trying to hit a perfect shot or trying to do things when maybe you should just be accepting of par is better than forcing the issue.”
The eight players left at 3-under 69 included Allisen Corpuz and Lauren Coughlin, who were recently confirmed as members of the upcoming U.S. Solheim Cup team. Early in the day, Coughlin shot 4-under 32 on her front nine and stayed right at 4 under until bogeying the par-5 closing hole.
“Disappointing bogey there at the last, but overall played really well,” Coughlin said. “Made a lot of really good putts on the front nine. Greens were getting really firm and some of them aren’t very deep, and so was kind of glad I got some on the front nine down and done in the beginning of the day.”
Coughlin will be one of just two Solheim Cup rookies on the U.S. team. She qualified on the back of her breakout 2024 season, which has featured two LPGA tournament titles this summer in Canada and Scotland.
“I remember after Canada I was like, âI want to do it again,’ so I was just thinking, âKeep doing what I’m doing, don’t change anything,'” Coughlin said. “That’s kind of been my whole thing.”
Of the eight players at 3-under 69, only Robyn Choi of Australia went bogey-free. Also tied there are Yealimi Noh, Haeran Ryu of South Korea, Nicole Broch Estrup of Denmark, Jeeno Thitikul of Thailand and Yuri Yoshida of Japan.
Lexi Thompson and Sarah Schmelzel — named two of Stacy Lewis’ captain’s picks for the Solheim Cup team earlier this week — shot 2-under 70, as did Megan Khang, a Boston-area native. Khang recovered from one early bogey and posted three birdies, including on two of her final three holes.
“Starting out it’s always a little nerve-wracking playing in front of a home crowd, but trying to take that nervous energy to excited to hopefully give the home crowd something to root for,” Khang said.
