Lisa Pettersson and Elina Nummenpaa carded opening round scores of 63 (-6) to share the overnight lead after the first 18 holes of the Didriksons Skaftö Open.
The duo seemed to relish the tranquil conditions on the Swedish West Coast on Friday, as they rolled in putts for fun on a low-scoring start to the competition.
It was a day to remember for Nummenpaa, who birdied half of the holes she played in the opening round to take a share of the lead heading into the weekend.
The Finnish star took inspiration from a fellow sporting compatriot as she went on an incredible run of five birdies in her final six holes, to bounce back in fine style after a double bogey on the 12th.
“I made the most of the par-fives and picked up some shots there, I hit some nice approach shots today and felt quite alright with my drives as well, so overall it was a good day,” she said.
“My double on 12 was terrible, I missed my six iron so much to the right, the same as I did on the second, so I need to go and hit some irons in practice tomorrow.
“There’s a famous NHL ice hockey player from Finland called Teemu Selänne and his number was eight, so it’s been my goal to make eight birdies in a round.
“But when I made my eighth on 17 I thought it would be even better to make nine birdies because that’s half of the golf course, so on the last I wanted that ninth birdie so badly.”
After a month back in her homeland, Nummenpaa seemed ready and refreshed on course in Friday’s action, with birdies on holes one, five, six and seven seeing her start the day in fine fettle.
Despite the blip on the 12th, a strong finish puts the Finn right in the mix after the first round, who started the week making the most of her surroundings with some canoeing in nearby Grundsund.
She continued: “Usually I don’t do much in tournament weeks, but since we arrived here on Monday I thought there was time to go and do something else as well.
“I was home for four or five weeks and wanted to do something, but I never really did. I wanted to go hiking in Switzerland but didn’t get round to it, just some boating in Finland.
“So when we got here I wanted to go canoeing to do something different and it was perfect. The weather was so nice and warm.”
After starting the day with a dropped shot on the second, Pettersson roared back into life on the fifth, as she reached the par-five green in two, before rolling in a short putt for eagle to get her round back on track.
Three birdies in her next four holes followed, as she reached the turn in 33, only for a dropped shot on the tenth seeing her fall back to -3.
But the Swede finished the back nine just as she did the first, with birdies on 15, 17 and 18 seeing her streak ahead of the rest of the field in the early stages.
“I’m really happy today, I’m really happy with my game,” Pettersson said.
“I left downhill putts on my first four holes and hit them all way past, I couldn’t really get the speed. Then I hit it close on the fifth for eagle so that was a good comeback after the rocky start.
“I’ve played here a few times before, the last time was in 2020, so I have a lot of rounds under my belt here so I know where to be and where not to be, and it’s all about playing smart on this course, you have to be aggressive but smart at the same time.
“Most of the Swedes have played here for a few tournaments through the years so we know it pretty well. It’s nice to have the Swedish atmosphere here as well and seeing all the fans is really fun.”
The strong opening day has proved Pettersson’s decision to focus on European golf for this rest of the year to be a good one, after splitting her time between the LET and Epson Tour in the United States for much of the 2022 season.
But after returning closer to home for the foreseeable future, and spending time honing her game back in Stockholm, the 27-year-old seems to be reaping the rewards after a strong showing in Skaftö.
“I’ve struggled with my tee shots this year, so I took a three week break to see my coach and worked really hard on my driver and woods off the tees, and finally I can see some improvement,” she continued.
“It’s been a challenging year, I started off mixing with the Epson Tour to begin with – travelling back and forth – but didn’t really put any good results down.
“A few weeks ago I made the decision to focus on one tour so I didn’t waste any energy, and this tour is growing so much and you get to go to so many places that I haven’t been to before and there’s new experiences.
“So I’m glad I made the decision to focus on the LET and do my best out here and now I can relax a little bit more.”
The duo have Maiken Bing Paulsen, Ana Pelaez Trivino and Emma Spitz one shot behind them after the first round, as the trio recorded an opening day score of 64 (-5) to put themselves in contention in the early stages.
Five birdies in the first ten holes saw Paulsen spring up the standings, before two bogeys and two more birdies coming home kept her within touching distance of the pacesetters.
The Norwegian returned to her Oslo base through the summer, and looks to be reaping the rewards of time spent honing her game back in her homeland
She said: “I gave myself some really good birdie opportunities today, I tried to exploit some of the shorter par-fours and par-fives and had some short birdie putts.
“I’m happy to see my game turning in the right direction, I’ve been saying all season that it’s been getting better and better just the score hasn’t been there, so today I feel I gave some shots away but it was a good round so I’m happy with that.
“I’ve been making some swing changes and some putting changes, and it’s definitely shown today that they’ve been paying off and take me in a good direction moving forward. The process is the main focus right now, I’m enjoying being here in Sweden in my neighbouring country, so it’s perfect.”
Trivino also finds herself on five under-par, with the Spaniard producing six unanswered birdies in her first 15 holes, before dropping her only shot of the day on the 17th.
And it was the perfect start to professional life for Spitz, who relinquished her amateur status last week, and followed it up with a flawless opening round in Sweden with five birdies and not a single dropped shot to her name.
Among the swathes of Scandinavians at the top of the leaderboard is 14-year-old amateur Havanna Torstensson, who fired an opening round score of 65 (-4) to sit among the leading pack after the first 18 holes in Sweden.
After starting the day with a birdie on the first, Torstensson went on to pick up four more shots on the front nine, with three straight birdies on holes five, six and seven, before another on the ninth to go out in 32.
A double on the 12th was soon forgotten about with birdies on 14 and 15, before dropping another shot on 16 to finish the day two shots behind the leaders.
The teenager has Halmstad Golf Club as her home course, and was in attendance earlier in the year to see Linn Grant make history in the Volvo Car Scandinavian Mixed, and is delighted with the chance to be able to tee it up alongside the Swedish stars she admires this week.
She said: “I started really well and I just played well from there, I hit most of the fairways and made some good putts, so it was a good day.
“I like the par-fives round this course, I made some nice birdies on them today. I had some nice tee shots and second shots on them which gave me great chances to make some birdies.
“It was wonderful to watch Linn win at Halmstad, she played so well that week. To be able to compete against her this week is so cool and I can’t understand it.
“Linn has always been an idol for me and also Maja, they are Swedish stars and everyone around my age seems to have them as an idol right now. It’s so good to see them play well, it gives us so much inspiration.”
Torstensson finds herself in a tie for sixth after the first round in Sweden, alongside Spain’s Carmen Alonso, Morocco’s Ines Laklalech and England’s Alice Hewson.
Maja Stark also sits in T6 after day one, with the Swede rallying towards the end of the day to pick up three shots in her final four holes to also finish on -4.
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