As major championship golf continues its geographic shift from the northeast USA to other regions, the PGA of America looks to make a statement with its selection of sites. The men’s tournament, now in May, certainly needs sites with less weather impact, and looks south and westward. The women’s tournament is a bit freer, as it takes place in mid-June.

One site that both will utilize is the PGA of America’s new, two-course headquarters, Fields Ranch in Frisco, Texas. The East course, a Gil Hanse design, will host six PGA majors in the next dozen years. The men and the senior men will visit the course twice, but it is the women who christen the course this week, with their PGA Championship. Fields Ranch plays a bit like a Scottish links, a bit like west Texas hardpan, and it will take creativity and patience to have yourself a week.

It is appropriate that the ladies should usher in a new era of PGA Championship golf, and we are happy to share the five things that we learned on Thursday at the Women’s PGA Championship 2025.

1. We’ve been expecting you

There are four players, tied for third place at two-under par, who merit our attention. Hae Ran Ryu has LPGA wins each of the past three seasons. Rio Takeda has wins in 2024 and 2025. Yealimi Noh has one LPGA win, and Somi Lee has yet to ascend the victor’s podium. Each must be considered for contention, as each navigated her way around a course that beguiled some, frustrated others, and conquered more.

Takeda, Ryu, and Noh each amassed four birdies against two bogeys, while Lee posted three against one. What this tells us is … very little. None of the four demonstrated the potential to light up the course with a low-60s round. Until they get to know the course, the competitors will need to be content with strategic strikes, and not an all-out assault. Too many hazards and too much rough lay in wait for the risky plays.

Somi Lee goes back-to-back with birdies on 7 & 8!

Scoring: https://t.co/bjEQKZhEU2#KPMGWomensPGA pic.twitter.com/KzKRhgvyRo

— KPMG Women’s PGA Championship (@KPMGWomensPGA) June 19, 2025

2. Scratching our heads

Not everyone with pedigree found Fields Ranch East to their liking on day one. Lydia Ko, the superstar of 2024, opened with a birdie, then played the rest of the round in +4. She was joined at 75 by Maja Stark, winner of the US Open earlier this month. Stark was plus-five after six holes, including a triple bogey at the second. She clawed her way back, making four birdies against two bogeys over the final segment of the course.

Joining them in the What Happened? echelon are Celine Boutier and Jennifer Kupcho (+4), Patty Tavatanakit and Nasa Hataoka (+5), and Lilia Vu and Charley Hull (+6 and beyond.) Fields Ranch East is precisely the sort of course that asks you to limit miscues and bad judgment. It offers a few birdie opportunities, but essentially demands a healthy respect for regulation figures and Grandma Par.

3. Pleased to meet you

Take your pick of the following names: Yuna Nishimura; Peiyun Chien; Chisato Iwai; Kumkang Park; Shinsil Bang. If you aren’t familiar with one or more of them, welcome to the LPGA and its constant and consistent influx of new talent. Two of the aforementioned quintet are from Japan, one from Chinese Taipei, and two from Korea. All have a score of 71 in common, after one day of the 2o25 Women’s PGA Championship. None of them should be in contention, but here they are, three shots behind the leader.

As with all the other segments of this installment, none of the fivesome signed for an extraordinary number of birdies. The common thread throughout the first day was: limit the bogeys, avoid the big numbers, and make a few birdies to stay in red figures. I’ve a feeling that at least two of these five will be inside the top seven after day two of this championship.

4. Minjee Lee

Minjee Lee began and ended round one with a bogey. The two-time major champion added another pair of whoopsies along the way, but managed to scratch seven birdies from the firm fairways and greens north of Dallas. On the opening hole, Lee was forced to pitch out from the rough after her tee shot strayed left. A wayward third left her scrambling, and her fourth sailed past the hole by sixteen feet. That bogey ignited something, as Lee made five birdies from holes three through ten. Her march to the finish was checkered, with a bit of everything. Three pars, two birdies, and three bogeys brought her to the clubhouse at three-under par, good for solo second after one round. She enters day two one shot behind the leader.

Minjee owns an Evian and a US Open, and a third, unique major would elevate her to a new level of champion. We’ve seen the necessary game, and we believe that she might have it this week. Does she believe it? Does she have faith?

The best shots from PGA Frisco, at your fingertips, on Champcast.
@TMobile | @KPMG pic.twitter.com/QujScR95P3

— KPMG Women’s PGA Championship (@KPMGWomensPGA) June 19, 2025

5. Jeeno Thitikul

If Minjee’s round was filled with excitement and drama, Jeeno Thitikul provided the counterpart. After four pars to open her round, Thitikul fired a loose drive into the right-side hazard on number five. Four swings later, she had a mind-numbing double. She did not cave. At seven, she began a string of five consecutive birdies, to reach three-under par. Over the final stretch, Thitikul was rock-solid, posting one birdie and five pars to close her day.

One might extrapolate that LPGA stands for Ladies Parity Golf Association, as no one dominates the tour and its majors for more than one or two years. Of the younger players, Jeeno Thitikul certainly has the game to put together a 4-5 win season, with two majors. The question is, what will it take to awaken that dominance? Perhaps this week, we’ll find out.

Bonus

It’s the scrambling (and the need to do so) that will ultimately determine the winner of the 2025 Women’s PGA Championship. Fields Ranch East is a bump-and-run Elysian Field around the putting surfaces. Bunker floors are situated well below green surfaces, and all recovery shots will need room to run out. It’s quite easy to seep five to ten feet past the hole, forcing a par-saving putt from beyond tap-in distance.