Hannah Screen was up bright and early on day one of the 2026 Aramco Championship as she hit the opening tee shot of the tournament at Shadow Creek.
The English player ended her round with a 69 (-3) to be in the upper echelons on the leaderboard in Las Vegas.
Screen made a bogey on the second before rolling in back-to-back birdies on the fourth and fifth, as well as the seventh and eighth holes.
She dropped another shot on 10 but once again rolled in two birdies on the trot on 16 and 17 before finding the water on the last to seal a round of three-under-par.
The 26-year-old believed she worked well with her caddie Harry Ewing to tackle the challenging Shadow Creek.
“I had lots of birdies,” she said. “My caddie and I did such a good job getting the right numbers. You can figure out the number and then you’re playing 20 short of it because the greens are extremely firm.
“Having that trust with each other, he was going off my gut feel and I was going off his numbers, and that really helped me today. I hit quite a few shots within three feet, so that always helps make some birdies.
“I made a really nice birdie on 16. I hit it in the rough for my lay-up. It was really difficult. I managed to pitch it just before the green and it rolled out, and then I holed a nice 15-footer, so that was really good.”
Screen was in the first group of the day on the front nine and played alongside Korea’s Jenny Shin and Germany’s Laura Fünfstück.
The English player, who has seven top-10 finishes on the LET, is delighted to be in the tournament which is co-sanctioned by the LET and LPGA Tour.
Screen has plenty of experience in the United States having attended the University of Houston and University of Oklahoma, and believes that helped her today.
“It was really special to hit the first tee shot,” she continued. “I only got in this event two and a half weeks ago. I was first reserve, I’m just so happy to be here and be in the field. I got to play with Jenny Shin – obviously she’s such a good LPGA player. I think she’s told me she’s been 15, 16 years on Tour. Just to see how she went about her stuff is really special.
“When I was in college you hit with a 60-degree for like four years just because of American style courses. I like chipping with a 60. Even today, it’s a really tough course, so I knew I was going to have some up-and-downs, and it really kept my momentum going using the 60-degree.
“The girls coming over from LET, it’s a great experience for us just to be around these players and even on practice days you see if you’re doing something similar to them on the putting green or the range.
“Even when they’re warming up, you can see what the best players in the world are doing and you can really take that on board. It is cool for me just being around some top players in the locker room, at breakfast with them. It’s definitely a pinch-me moment sometimes.”
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