Chiara Tamburlini and Chonlada Chayanun are in a share of first place on six-under-par at the end of the first day of the Wistron Ladies Open – Taiwan.
The testing conditions proved to be a challenge on a breezy opening day at Sunrise Golf and Country Club, but the afternoon wave produced the better scores.
Switzerland’s Tamburlini, who is leading the LET Order of Merit, began her round with a bogey at the first before a birdie on the fifth.
After another dropped shot on the sixth, the two-time LET winner found her groove making three birdies on the trot on holes eight, nine and ten.
She did the same thing on holes 12, 13 and 14 and added her final birdie of the day on the 16th hole to seal a round of 66 (-6).
“I have been struggling a little bit with my confidence in my putter,” said Tamburlini. “I have been playing really well obviously, but I just hadn’t felt 100% confident in my putter.
“Today I feel like that was way better, I made a lot of putts, so that was good. In the beginning, I was still a bit tired. I hit it out of bounds on six, so that was a bit of a wakeup call and from there on, it was extremely good golf, and I enjoyed it and played with two really nice girls as well. A good day overall.
“I felt like I wasn’t sharp at the beginning and I wasn’t quite there. It’s week four for me and I feel like that definitely showed. In a way that bogey almost helped me because I tried to set myself the goal to keep making birdies and I actually myself the number was to get to six-under. That bogey got me going and I was really solid from there on.”
Thailand’s Chayanun, who began her round from the 10th tee, went bogey-birdie in her first two holes but then didn’t drop a shot.
The Thai star rolled in birdies on holes 13, 15 and 18, as well as the second, sixth and ninth holes to also sign for a round of 66 (-6).
“It was unexpected! Everything was on its A-game today, my driver was perfect, my irons were good and especially my putting was amazing today – I can’t believe it,” said the Thai player.
“I have been struggling for a couple of months with my swing and I have been trying to fix it. I changed so many coaches and then at the end, my partner helped me with my swing and I came back and it keeps getting better and better.
“It’s great [playing with LET players], I have seen so many players. I have seen a couple of faces I have played with before. It’s pretty nice playing in the same event as them again.
“I like the course, but I have been here a couple of times and this course has never been easy for me because the weather here is always unexpected. The winds were only 25 km/h, I think it’s easier than before, so I know how to play it.
“I don’t have any strategy; I’m just trying to do the same thing as today. I’m trying to hit as many fairways and greens as I can and drop some putts – that’s it!”
Thailand’s Punpaka Phuntumabamrung is in outright third place after producing a round of 67 (-5) on the first day.
Phuntumabamrung made birdies on the fourth, sixth and ninth holes before making her only bogey of the day on 10 and then ended her round with birdies on 12, 14 and 16.
Home player Pei-Ying Tsai and France’s Nastasia Nadaud are one shot further back in a share of fourth place on four-under-par.
Five players are in a tie for sixth place with South Africa’s Casandra Alexander, Thailand’s Supamas Sangchan, Anne Van Dam of the Netherlands, and home duo Li-Ning Wang and Yu-Sang Hou all on three-under-par.
Alexander didn’t get off to the best start with three bogeys in her first five holes but found form after that with birdies on seven, nine, 12, 13, 15 and 17 for her round of 69 (-3).
“A terrible start and terrible finish with some good in-between is, basically what it was today,” said the South African.
“My caddie has been sick, so I had a local caddie, and I was trying to figure things out in the beginning. I played nicely in-between, a three-putt on the last didn’t help much but it was alright. Not much more to it.
“I stuck a couple close, I had two tap-ins in the middle somewhere and I made a couple of six and eight-footers. I would say all in all everything was good. The fairways are wide here, so your tee shots don’t have to be perfect, the second shots were good and I had a good roll on the putter.”
Van Dam also had a mixed day with four bogeys, five birdies and an eagle on her scorecard at Sunrise Golf and Country Club.
“It was a bit up and down, lots of good with a lot of birdies and a super nice eagle but also some very poor bogeys,” said the five-time LET winner. “It had a bit of everything, but I’m happy to finish off with an eagle on the last.
“It’s very windy but I think it makes the course play quite fun. I think the course needs some wind to make it difficult. I never mind playing in the wind, it always makes it more of a challenge.
“[On the eagle] I had a poor bogey on 17 so I was quite annoyed, I hit a super nice drive and then had 220 metres to the pin, and I hit a really nice 4-iron to about eight feet and rolled in the putt. I’m especially happy with the approach shot, it was really good.”
The second round will begin at 6.50 am (local time) on Friday and there will be a cut to the top-60 professionals and ties at the end of the day.
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