The return of the LET to mainland Europe did not disappoint, with low scores galore on the international leaderboard at the 2020 Tipsport Czech Ladies Open at Beroun Golf Club.
Leading the pack after day one is perhaps the hottest player on the LET right now, Emily Kristine Pedersen, who continued her run of good form, firing a ‘career-low’ first round of 63 (-9) at the 2020 Tipsport Czech Ladies Open.
She leads by two strokes from a trio including England’s Cloe Frankish, Belgium’s Manon De Roey, who made a spectacular albatross on the 7th hole, and Germany’s Leonie Harm with further five players tied at six-under-par.
As it stands, the top ten is occupied by nine different nationalities, highlighting the diversity of the LET membership, with Leonie Harm the only player in the top-ten to tee off in the trickier afternoon wave which endured stronger winds. However, it was not the wind that ground a halt to play but the threat of lightening that stopped eight groups from completing their first round. They will return tomorrow at 7.30am.
Starting from the tenth, the current Race to Costa Del Sol leader started slowly, making a birdie and a bogey in her first four holes before catching fire on her 6th hole, making an eagle courtesy of a hybrid to 3ft, to move to red numbers.
Further birdies and No. 7 and 8 ensured she turned in 32 shots before coming home in a bogey-free 31, to post the clubhouse lead.
She would not be caught.
“I am really pleased with my round, I reached all of the par 5s in two, apart from the 18th, so that always helps but I had a good stretch where I hit three shots in a row to within a meter.”
Pedersen is fresh off a T11 finish at the AIG Women’s Open and a runner-up finish at the Aberdeen Standard Investments Ladies Scottish Open and revealed the secret to her recent success.
“I am just trying to do the best I can on every single shot and be clear about where I want to pitch it and how do I want to fly it, how do I want to spin it and it takes my focus off my score. I worked hard during the break on my dispersion, so I don’t hit it as wide, which got me in a lot of trouble last year.”
Pedersen’s coach is caddying for only the second time this week, taking up the duties once a year to watch his star pupil up close in tournament play.
“He likes to see how I think on the course, which shots I am uncomfortable with as my swing is a bit different under pressure. We talk a lot about the tempo to put on the swing and the different lies in the rough and what sort of swing I should be putting on a shot at any time.”
The 25-year-old admitted to maturing in recent years and her performances over the last three weeks suggest so.
“I used to look at where the pin was and just go at it, I had this junior mentality. I have learnt that there’s a bit more to a golf shot and the whole process that I go through is a bit more mature now.”
Close behind in T2, Belgium’s Manon De Roey had an eventful day of her own, recording the first albatross of the year as well as four birdies and an eagle en-route to a 65 (-7). The three-time LETAS winner struck a perfect 9-iron from 144m on the par five 7th hole and is in search of her first LET victory but is well positioned heading into the weekend.
Cloe Frankish recorded a career-best bogey-free 65 (-7) to sit alongside De Roey, while Harm topped the afternoon starters with a bogey-free 65 of her own. They sit one ahead of five players in T5 including Scotland’s Kylie Henry, who made two eagles on her way to a 66 (-6).
Czech star, Klara Spolkova sits in T24 after a first round 70 (-2).
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