England’s Charley Hull posted four birdies on her closing nine holes to shoot a 5-under-par 67 for the first-round lead of the AIG Women’s Open, conducted by The R&A, at the Old Course at St Andrews.
“It was loads of fun out there today,” said Hull of holding the lead in windy and challenging conditions. “Actually, before my round I was in there watching it on the TV when I saw the scores, and I thought, how is she (Yin) 4-under par; that was an unbelievable score. I'd take that now because it was gusting a lot on the range, and I said to my coach, feels like they could call it at any minute because I don't know how the balls are staying on the greens. To go out there, shoot 5-under, play pretty solid, it was a lot of fun.”
One stroke behind at 68 were world number one Nelly Korda, including birdies on the 17th and 18th, and China’s Ruoning Yin.
“Any single time I get to climb the leaderboard, even if -- you can't win a tournament on day one but you can definitely lose it,” Korda said. “So, I've put myself into good position, and hopefully I can keep trending in the right direction.”
Yin, who won last year’s KPMG Women’s LPGA at Baltusrol G.C. for her first major victory, was 6-under through 14 holes, but retreated with bogeys on her 15th and 17th holes. She totaled the most birdies of the day with seven.
“I was trying to enjoy it and have fun,” Yin said of the day’s steady winds between 30-35 MPH. “I was trying to make the wind my friend. I honestly don’t have that much experience for links golf. I had to calculate the wind when I putted, which was the first time.”
She credited a positive attitude in the distractions of the wind for her leading score and said: “The wind was really strong today. You can’t really fight it.”
Reigning Champion Lilia Vu and fellow American Andrea Lee, a pair of Koreans, Jenny Shin and Mi Hyang Lee, Thailand’s Patty Tavatanakit and Mao Saigo of Japan followed closely at 3-under 69.
“It was super tough,” said Vu of the windy conditions. “You just have to be on every single shot. You have to be really disciplined. Front nine, winds off the left, kind of between hurting and helping, and then back nine, you kind of have to rewire your brain, like okay, winds off the right, it's okay to hit out to the right and then have it come back. It's just definitely a mental battle.”
“It was such a long day, as well,” said Shin, who resides in Las Vegas. “It felt like I was there the whole day. And I feel like I did a pretty good job staying calm. And really not three-putting out there is a huge factor. A lot of 20-, 40-, 35-footers. If you start three-putting those, it starts getting in your head, and I think I did a pretty good job of managing that and two-putting and making the four-footers on the way in.”
Lee, who posted four birdies against one bogey, said: “I think the key out there is just staying really patient and knowing that you just kind of had to play for the wind and take different lines off the tee and different aims into the greens, just trusting that the wind will take it there.”
Hyo Joo Kim of Korea logged a 2-under 70. Two past Champions, Georgia Hall and Jiyai Shin led a group of seven players at 1-under-par 71 that also included Lydia Ko. Hall eagled the par-4 9th, her last hole of the round, by holing an eight-foot putt after the driving the green.
Despite the blustery conditions, 17 players shot better than par.
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