South Korean star Hyo-Joo Kim delighted the home fans on day one at the Aramco Team Series Presented by PIF – Korea as the Major winner fired a round of 68 (-4) to lead the Individual competition by one shot in Seoul.
Teeing up as invitee in her ATS debut, Kim got off to a flyer birdying her first hole on the short par-4 10th. She would drop a shot on the par-3 15th before making a birdie before the turn at the par-5 17th.
After seven straight pars, Kim finished hot eagling the par-5 8th thanks to a lovely hole out from 60 yards. She would follow this up with a birdie on the 9th for the 68 (-4) and clubhouse lead.
“I wish they had played the music a bit louder,” Kim joked after playing her first round in the unique event. “But it was quite enjoyable. Also, it was the first time playing with four people in a match. I’m working on the things that I wanted to improve this year and I feel like it’s getting better and better.
“In the US I wasn’t happy with my putting. I had to keep working on alignment start line putting where I spent most of the time.”
In second place sit India’s Pranavi Urs and recent Ladies European Tour (LET) winner Mariajo Uribe . The Colombian, winner of the NSW Women’s Open, also had an enjoyable day carding four birdies en route to a 69 (-3).
Uribe said: “I love coming to Asia but it’s a tough course so you’ve got to take advantage of those birdie opportunities,” she said. “We’ll see how the weather is tomorrow. I think more birdies are going to come.
“I mean I love Seoul and this is my last year travelling the world [before I retire] so I’m taking advantage of it. My sister-in-law came with me so we’ve been buying a lot of Korean skincare and going around eating at all my favourite dumpling places and Korean BBQ.”
Fresh off her victory on the LET Access Series (LETAS), Sweden’s Anna Magnusson posted a round of 70 (-2) to take solo fourth position on day one.
The 29-year-old said: “It’s quite a long course and I’m not a long hitter so it’s very long for me. I was hitting my driver a lot but I was hitting fairways which helps. I hit some good long irons into the green too. I just tried to stay in the moment. My putter was my best friend today.”
Four players share fifth spot on one-under par, a quarter which includes Thailand’s Aunchisa Utama, Slovenia’s Pia Babnik, Sweden’s Johanna Gustavsson, and recent LET winner Manon De Roey from Belgium.
Over in the Team competition, Gustavsson’s squad of Scotland’s Laura Beveridge, England’s Gemma Clews, and amateur Jaeho Shin lead way after they combined wonderfully to post a score of 13-under par.
“We all holed our fair share of putts,” Beveridge said, who chipped in on the 8th hole. “There’s definitely some good team banter as well. From hole one. It was a bit of slow start as well. But we’ve got good chat and we’re all pals.”
Team Roussin-Bouchard, consisting of France’s Pauline Roussin-Bouchard and Swedish duo Magnusson and Linnea Johansson, and Team Kjellker consisting of Sweden’s Sara Kjellker and Finnish pair Elina Nummenpää and Ursula Wikström, share second spot on 10-under par. Team Uribe and Team Broch Estrup, and Team Tan sit in tie for fourth on 9-under par.
Kjellker said: “I’m a very proud captain and I’m very happy to play with these girls. I think we all just stuck to our game plans and tried to stay happy. The course played quite tough so I think there was a lot of patience out there. But we managed to make some beautiful putts.”
Round two of the Aramco Team Series – Korea tees off tomorrow at 6:45 local time. The full leaderboard can be found here.
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