England’s Liz Young shot an opening round of four-under-par 68 on the Black Knight Course at DLF Golf and Country Club on Friday morning to take the clubhouse lead in the Hero Women’s Indian Open.
Young started in the second group from the 10th tee and played the back nine in one-under-par, but made three birdies in her last five holes, signing off with a short birdie putt at the par-four ninth.
Young, who finished fifth in the event two years ago, before the birth of her first child, said that the key to her low score was taking only 26 putts.
“I always use a local caddie when I come to India and once I again I did again this year. He was really good on the greens, telling me the pace and the direction, so we worked well together. The bad shots that I did hit just happened to be at the right time and I managed to scramble some pars out of that.
“It’s very different to the other courses that we play on the LET, you have to think your way around on every shot. There is no let up and you can make birdies and bogeys very easily out there so it’s a good challenge.”
The lowest round in the tournament since it has been played on the Gary Player ‘Black Knight’ Course at DLF G&CC was set by Patcharajutar Kongraphan, who had a 67 in the second round of the 2015 event on the same golf course, when Emily Kristine Pedersen won with a winning 54-hole score of level par, 216. So far, the lowest winning score on the redesigned Black Knight Course was three-under-par, recorded by Aditi Ashok in 2016.
