Silva Saarinen on Day 1 at the 2024 PDGA Champions Cup. Photo: Danny Voss / PDGA

 Finland's Silva Saarinen picked apart Northwood Park on the opening day of the 2024 PDGA Champions Cup presented by Bushnell.

Hitting 20 out of a possible 22 fairways — including the four par 5s at the revised Northwood layout — Saarinen turned in the second-highest rated round of her career, unofficially at 1013, for a one-stroke lead in Morton, Illinois.

Battling a lingering finger injury, Valerie Mandujano battled through for a 4-under score and is tied with Missy Gannon, who capped off her 4-under round with an eagle on 18, and Holyn Handley.

Leading the chase card at 3-under will be Eveliina Salonen and Kristin Tattar, who hit that number with an eagle on 18 as well. Ohn Scoggins and Henna Blomroos will round out the chase card at 2-under and even, respectively.

Saarinen simply just went to work at Northwood, finishing a sterling 10-for-10 in C1X putting and was 11-for-18 in C2 in regulation in the woods. Her lone bogey came on 17 after an OB tee shot but she bounced back quickly with a tap-in birdie on 18.