Justice Bosio fired an opening round of 65 (-7) on day one of the Women’s NSW Open which is being held at Magenta Shores Golf & Country Club.
The Australian amateur began her first round on the 10th tee and made her first birdie on the 12th before adding further birdies on 15 and 17.
Bosio continued her momentum on the back nine with back-to-back birdies on holes three and four.
The 20-year-old also birdied holes seven and eight to produce a bogey-free round and sit at the top of the leaderboard on seven-under-par.
“I don’t think I could have started any better! I played really solid golf today, three birdies and then four birdies on each nine,” said the amateur.
“Having bogey-free rounds is always good, I feel like when I play well, I won’t have a bogey. I stuck a couple of shots close; my iron play was just really good all day.
“My driver was good, I didn’t miss any fairways, so I was just very consistent all the way through. It’s good this week playing with the LET players and seeing how my game matches up to theirs.”
Five players are in a tie for second place with Germany’s Laura Fuenfstueck, Spanish duo Marta Martin and Luna Sobron Galmes, Colombia’s Mariajo Uribe and Thailand’s Sasikarn Somboonsup all on five-under-par.
Fuenfstueck got off to a good start with birdies on the second and third holes before adding another on the ninth.
The German dropped a shot on the 11th but soon made up for it with three birdies in her final five holes to finish on five-under.
“I started hitting it nicely, we said in general the gameplan was to try to hit a lot of fairways and a lot of greens and see how many chances I could give myself,” said Fuenfstueck.
“I started with a couple of birdies which was nice. I dropped one shot on one of the par-fives which was a bit annoying but overall, I’m really happy with five-under.
“At the beginning of the week I wasn’t feeling very confident, I have been working on a few things. Last few weeks I have been playing with what I have currently and I’m trying to change a few things and just be confident with what I have right now.
“Be good with my process and accept that I might have the B-game right now but as long as I have the A-mentality, I can make something out of it. Surprisingly, the ball-striking was really good today.”
Spain’s Martin began her opening round on the 10th with a birdie and rolled in another on the 16th hole. After the turn, she made back-to-back birdies on holes two and three before adding another on the fifth.
Martin did make a bogey on the sixth hole, but she finished with a flourish making a birdie on her final hole.
“I played solid golf all the way round, even though I was not feeling very co-ordinated at the beginning of the day,” said Martin.
“We had a solid gameplan and we followed it and trusted all the good work we’ve been doing so far, and it turned out well. We had a lot of birdie opportunities.
“We made a couple of long putts and had fun. When you get days without winds on links golf, you have to take advantage of them, and I think I did that today.”
Spain’s Sobron Galmes didn’t get off to the best of starts with a bogey on the 10th but soon turned it around with birdies on 13 and 16.
She continued her form and rolled in three birdies on the trot on holes one, two and three before adding another birdie on the eighth.
The Spaniard explained: “I found the course very different than the practice days, but I like it. I played really good, I made a lot of putts. I started with a bogey, but I made six birdies, and I am happy with the round. I made a lot of putts, so I think the putter was key today.
“I think choosing the club on the tee box was very different to the other days with the wind, so you had to be good at that and the bounce is softer now, so I was thinking a lot about that. I have been practicing for four weeks at home, so I have a lot of confidence and just need to trust in my game and play.”
Colombia’s Uribe, who was playing alongside Sobron, also had a good day with eight birdies and three bogeys on her scorecard.
Uribe said: “It almost made it a little tough without the wind because it was hard to tell if it was actually affecting the ball or not.
“Once I had played one or two holes, we got the hang of it. It’s nice to shoot a couple of birdies, this course is tough sometimes. Some bogeys were going to be there, but at least we had some birdies.”
Thailand’s Somboonsup was in the later afternoon wave and carded a 67 which included six birdies and one bogey.
“I hit pretty good shots today,” said Somboonsup. “I just tried my best, we got lucky there was no wind.
“I put myself in good positions and even though sometimes I got into a bad spot, I feel like I got lucky today, so it ended up not being that bad.”
Seven players are in a tie for seventh place on four-under-par including LET winners Bronte Law and Shannon Tan, as well as Australian amateur Sarah Hammett.
There were also two holes-in-one in today’s round with Czechia’s Klara Davison Spilkova acing the third and Germany’s Leonie Harm acing the sixth.
The second round will begin at 7.15 am (local time) and there will be a cut to the top 60 professionals and ties at the end of the day.
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