A sun-soaked first round at the VP Bank Swiss Ladies Open ends with four stars tied at the top with Kirsten Rudgeley, Caroline Hedwall, Vani Kapoor and Anne-Charlotte Mora locked on five-under par.
Aussie Rudgeley, chasing her maiden Ladies European Tour (LET) win, got the ball rolling on Friday morning as she posted a bogey-free 66 (-5) at Golfpark Holzhäusern.
“I think you need to prepare properly on this course,” the 23-year-old said. “Get the right numbers and make sure the elevation is correct. With the mountains and the snow, I just kept looking around!
“Me and Harry [Ewing, my new caddie], it’s our first tournament together. I’ve been looking for a caddie for a while and I think me and Harry get on really well. I’ll see where it takes us. We hit some sensible shots and hit it pretty close all day, holed a few putts.”
Moments later, Solheim Cup heroine Hedwall followed suit carding six birdies and dropping just the one shot at the par-4 5th to match the score.
“I played really solid last week in Prague,” Hedwall said, who finished third at the Tipsport Czech Ladies Open. “So I feel like I kept up that momentum. I hit a lot of greens and gave myself a lot of birdie opportunities.
“I’m feeling very happy with my game at the moment. I’m playing well. The season has been a bit of a struggle. I switched to new irons before Cape Town [in April] and never really got a good feel for it. So I switched back a couple of weeks again and I feel like I’m getting my game back again. It was a nice switch back.”
On to the afternoon wave, and Kapoor, starting on the 10th hole, would light things up on her back-nine firing five birdies after going out level-par.
“It’s a big relief,” the Indian said. “My game has been feeling good for quite some time, but I feel like everything wasn’t coming around. So it’s good to see some positives. I’m just trying to believe in myself a bit more. I think that’s helped. I was playing in Italy a couple of weeks ago and I had someone on my bag, he was a professional, and he said, ‘you have it in you.’ He said to believe and that’s what I did today.”
Last but not least, Mora continued her excellent record at Golfpark Holzhäusern – the Frenchwoman finished T10 in 2021 and T3 in 2023 – recovering well after opening with a double-bogey at the par-4 1st to post seven birdies.
“I think this course is for me,” the one-time LET winner said. “I’ve worked a lot on my swing and made some changes. In my downswing and with my putting. I’ve been working hard for three weeks. I’m happy to see the results. I’m really happy because I started with a double and then made three birdies in a row. I’m staying with the same family too which is nice.”
Four players sit just behind in a tie for fifth on four-under par. This quartert includes Spain’s Maria Hernandez, Morocco’s Maha Haddioui, Sweden’s Sofie Bringner and Poland’s Dorota Zalewska.
Twelve players share ninth on three-under par including home favourite Kim Metraux, last week’s runner-up Rosie Davies, and the in-form Emma Spitz from Austria.
Another one of the home stars, Joburg Ladies Open winner Chiara Tamburlini, is one shot further back from them on two-under par.
The second round of the 2024 VP Bank Swiss Ladies Open continues tomorrow at 8:00am local time.
Watch live, or follow all the action throughout the tournament on our socials – @LETgolf on Instagram, TikTok and X, and Ladies European Tour on YouTube and Facebook – #RaiseOurGame | #SwissLadiesOpen
