Haeran Ryu and Yan Liu each shot bogey-free 7-under 65 to share the lead during the suspended first round of the Chevron Championship as top-ranked Nelly Korda struggled to a 77 on Thursday in her title defense.

The round was suspended late as a storm approached The Club at Carlton Woods, with 24 players unable to finish.

Korda won the event last year for the last of her five straight LPGA Tour victories and had hoped to rediscover that dominant form in the season’s first major. Instead, she made bogeys on four straight holes and was 4-over par after six holes.

Korda added two more bogeys on the back nine and was 12 shots behind the leaders and needing a big second round simply to make the cut.

Ryu of South Korea and Liu of China had no such problems.

Ryu birdied five of her first 10 holes to move in front and made her seventh birdie on her closing hole, the ninth.

Liu got going on her back nine with four birdies in a five-hole stretch. She, too, made a closing birdie to tie Ryu.

Hya Joo Kim was a shot behind the two leaders heading to her final hole, but took bogey on the 18th to finish with a 67.

The group at 68 included Ariya Jutanugarn, Hye-Jin Choi, Carlotta Ciganda, Manon De Roey and Brooke Matthews. Lucy Li also was 4-under par through 14 when play was suspended,

Among those unable to complete the round were Lexi Thompson, who retired from full-time tour golf last year, and LPGA rookie Ingrid Lindblad of Sweden, who won last week in Los Angeles in her third start as an LPGA Tour member.

Thompson was at 1-over par with her final hole, the ninth, remaining. Lindblad was at 2-over par with her last hole, the 18th, to play. Lindblad had a triple-bogey 7 on the par-4 14th.

Ryu, with two career LPGA Tour victories, changed putters midway through last week’s tournament in Los Angeles, liked how it felt and continued with it in Texas.

Ryu said she was more comfortable on the greens. She often opened the face with her former putter, Ryu explained, and was happy to make several tricky putts in her round. “It’s really good for me,” she said.

Liu, seeking her first LPGA Tour win, was not happy with her performance off the tee in Los Angeles last week and worked to get it corrected. “This week, I fixed my driver, so it feels very solid,” she said.

Little was solid for Korda, who began her season with a pair of top 10 finishes, but has not been as crisp as a year ago when she won seven events and was the Rolex Player of the Year.

When Korda walked off the 18th green following her round, she told a small group of media that she was headed back to work.

“I’m going to go and practice and see where it takes me,” she said.

Korda is seeking her third career major

Salinda and Vetlo set pace at Zurich Classic

Rory McIlroy, playing for the first time since winning the Masters, teamed with Shane Lowry to shoot an 8-under 64 in better-play Thursday in the Zurich Classic, leaving the Irish defending champions six shots behind leaders Isaiah Salinda and Kevin Vetlo.

PGA Tour rookies Salinda and Velo opened with a tournament-record 58 in the tour’s only team event. Danish identical twins Nicolai and Rasmus Holgaard were a shot back. The teams will play alternate shot Friday, better ball Saturday and alternate shot Sunday.

A large gallery gathered on the 10th tee at TPC of Louisiana before 8 a.m. to see McIlroy. Shaking off an early-week illness, he provided a few highlights after a relatively slow start.

“It was brilliant to see so many people out there on a Tuesday morning,” McIlroy said. “It’s always nice to play in front of a supportive, enthusiastic crowed and looking forward to doing more of that over the next few days.”

Lowry carried the team early, birdieing three of the first holes after their back-nine start and adding another on the par-5 18th.

McIlroy’s first birdie came on a nearly 20-foot putt on No. 1, which he celebrated with a light-hearted fist-pump.

McIlroy followed that with an eagle on the par-5 second hole, hitting a 6-iron from 204 yards to 5 feet to get to 8 under.

They added a birdie on the fourth but both pulled tee shots left in the water on No. 6 and both made bogey. McIlroy settled for birdie on the par-5 seventh after narrowly missing a 20-foot eagle putt.

“I think sometimes every par you make feels like a bogey on these sorts of days, but then again, you have to remember that tomorrow and Sunday (alternate shot) are the important days, and if you can shoot good scores on those days, you can move up the board pretty quickly,” McIlroy said.

Salinda and Velo played the front nine in 10 under, with Salinda’s eagle on No. 7 and eight birdies. They added four birdies on the back nine, but parred three of the last four.

“Very easy to play when golf when you have a partner that’s stacking it and making a lot of putts,” Velo said. “A few really clutch par saves that he had on the back nine, and it was a very, very solid day.”

Collin Morikawa and Kurt Kitayama were tied for third at 61 with the teams of Cam Davis-Adam Svensson, Paul Peterson-Thomas Rosenmueller and Kris Ventura-Antoine Rozner.