Tour veteran Karrie Webb rolled back the years with a seven-under-par, 65, to lead the Aberdeen Asset Management Ladies Scottish Open after the first round.
The Australian, who has 56 wins on the Ladies European Tour and LPGA Tour combined, shot six-under-par on the back nine to leapfrog Cristie Kerr, who had been the clubhouse leader for the majority of the day.
At the turn, Webb was one-under-par with two birdies and a bogey. However, a scintillating run of five consecutive birdies between holes 11 and 15, when added to a final birdie on 18, sees Webb sleep on a one-shot lead.
“When we were warming up and our first few holes, obviously it was really cold and really windy,” Webb said. “I looked at the scoreboard and saw that Cristie Kerr shot 6-under, and I was like, what course did she play today?
“Then I sort of really hung in there through the front nine and made a nice birdie on 9 to turn at 1-under, and then just really started swinging at it well and hitting it quite close and had some good birdie chances and made the most of them.”
Kerr, who has already won on the LPGA Tour this season at the LOTTE Championship Presented by HERSHEY, was the first in the clubhouse and made four birdies on the back nine (her front nine) and rounded out her 18 holes with a birdie at the ninth, to add to a birdie on the par-5 fifth hole.
Arguably playing in the worst of the conditions, Kerr’s bogey free round was almost as impressive as the leader’s astounding 65.
“Today was a great day, and as you can tell from the scores, it's never easy here,” Kerr said. “You can never take anything for granted. You've just got to try to do as well as you can do on each shot and that was my goal.”
“The score added up really well. It was still tough to stand over the shots that you needed to execute, and it's never easy here. So, I'm very pleased with the score.
“I just controlled my ball really well out there, with the crosswinds and trajectory and I had a great day. I just kind of hit the ball in the areas I was trying to hit it in, and made some putts, as well.”
This season’s event is co-sanctioned by the LPGA and the LET, giving many LPGA players the opportunity to get used to links golf the week before the British Open.
“It's actually some of my favorite golf,” said Kerr about links golf. “I told my caddie that on the back nine, that it seems like the tougher the conditions, the more I like it for some reason. It's never easy. But it allows you to kind of play different shots and be more artistic, if you will.
“I like to be challenged mentally, and you know, these kind of conditions force you to focus on the shot at hand and not get ahead of yourself, and I did that really well today. It is a challenge. You know, my score today added up really well, but it still played really tough out there. You can't take anything for granted in these conditions obviously.”
The next nearest competitors sit a further three strokes back on three-under-par. Two 2017 LPGA Tour winners in Sei Young Kim and Inbee Park are in the chasing pack, along with Stacy Lewis, Pornanong Phatlum and the LET's Lina Boqvist.
For Lewis, three birdies in three holes through 14, 15 and 16 got her round off to the perfect start. However, a birdie and a bogey on Lewis’ second nine stalled her progress.
Lewis, like Kerr, is also a fan of links golf and said: “I love links golf personally. The fact that this became an LPGA event, it was immediately on my schedule. Just another opportunity to play links golf, I'm going to jump on.
“It's hard; it's difficult, but I think I always play better in those conditions and that's part of why I like it. It's about thinking your way around a golf course and having strategy. You might miss a green on purpose because that's the easiest place to get up-and-down.”
Sei Young Kim was hovering around the top spot for some time as three birdies on eight, nine and 10, plus an eagle on 14 moved her to five-under-par. However, back-to-back bogies on 16 and 17 saw the Republic of Korea golfer fall back into the group at +3.
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