Olivia Mehaffey fired a great round of 64 (-8) to hold a one-stroke lead at the end of the first day of the Amundi German Masters.
The Northern Irish player began her round on the back nine at Golf & Country Club Seddiner See and started with a birdie on the 10th before rolling in four on the trot from hole 13 through to 16.
Mehaffey dropped shots on 17 and 18 but soon bounced back with birdies on the first, fourth, fifth, sixth and eighth holes to sit at the top of the leaderboard on eight-under-par.
“It was fun,” said the 25-year-old. “I have got a new caddie on the bag and this was our first round. It was very enjoyable.
“I hit a lot of fairways and held some very nice putts which was good. I really like this golf course; it reminds me of home. It’s quite linksy, I think it’s a fun challenge. You can make the putts especially when you’ve got the wind in, but there are some holes downwind where you’re thinking it’s quite hard to stop it.”
Mehaffey took a break from life on Tour halfway through last season after needing to work on her mental health and heal following the death of her father Philip in December 2021.
The Arizona State alumna, who returned to competitive golf at the beginning of the 2023 season, has been seeing improvement in her game in recent weeks and added a new driver to the bag last week.
She explained: “It’s been a struggle for me, I’ve had my battles the last couple of years and I’ve got a really good team around me. It’s been really nice working with them, we have been battling to make less bogeys and make less doubles. It’s fun when you have a round like that.
“I felt like it’s been piecing together quite nicely, I have done a lot of work on the mental side. I have a great psychologist and a great coach and it’s really fun to add David my caddie into the mix as well.
“I actually changed my driver on Friday, I had been struggling off the tee, so it’s a new driver and it’s been much better. That had been the thing letting me down, so it’s nice to see that change is working nicely. I’ve been slowly getting a little bit of confidence and it was nice to go out there today. I felt like my old self again which was really nice.”
Indian amateur Avani Prashanth sits in second place on the leaderboard on seven-under-par after an opening round of 65.
The 16-year-old made a bogey on the fifth but then soon found her groove with birdies on the sixth, eighth, and ninth holes.
An albatross sandwiched between two birdies sent the teenager flying up the leaderboard and she ended with a birdie on 17 and bogey on 18 for her round of seven-under.
“I started off alright,” said Prashanth. “It was a bit of a rocky start with a bogey, but I really kept calm and then I made my birdies and finished the front nine at two-under.
“I then had another birdie and a really unexpected albatross which was the highlight of the round. I had to keep it together with all the adrenaline flowing, I made another birdie and a birdie on 17. I ended with a bogey but I’m grateful for how the day went and looking forward to tomorrow.”
Sweden’s Johanna Gustavsson and England’s Meghan MacLaren sit in a tie for third place on six-under-par after they both only dropped one shot during their rounds of 66.
Gustavsson, who came third in the 2022 Race to Costa del Sol, has a new putter in the bag this week and it paid dividends today.
She said: “I’m happy with today. I grabbed a new putter last week at the Volvo Car Scandinavian Mixed when the Tour bus was there and I didn’t use it then but I used it this week and it seems to be working.
“It very different. I’m usually playing a narrow ‘normal’ putter and this one is big and I haven’t used one in ages. It’s very different but I like it. Obviously, I hit good shots as well today to come close to the pin, but the putting was good and they definitely dropped today.”
While MacLaren recovered from a bogey on her first hole to card seven birdies and said she felt comfortable out on the course.
“I obviously bogeyed the first which was very disappointing,” said the three-time LET winner. “I then actually made a couple of decent par saves over the next couple of holes. You never know if those seven-footers don’t go in the whole day is different. But I just tried to stabilise a little bit and then I played as well as I’ve played for ages to be honest.
“It just was incredibly solid and was nice to get something out of it. My irons were the best part of my game. It felt like I didn’t really miss a single shot out there. But obviously I still had to put myself in position off the tee.
“It was just one of those days where everything feels comfortable. You still have to stay switched on on this golf course because to be honest I haven’t been in a similar position for a while. I was able to keep focusing on what I needed to do with my golf and it felt like I just kept hitting great shots which is a great feeling.”
Four players are in a share of fifth place after the first round with Czechia’s Kristyna Napoleaova, England’s Cara Gainer, Italy’s Virginia Elena Carta and France’s Celine Herbin all on four-under-par.
There are six players one shot further back with Swiss duo Kim Metraux and Tiffany Arafi, England’s Hayley Davis, India’s Diksha Dagar, Austria’s Sarah Schober and Italy’s Clara Manzalini all on three-under-par.
The second round begins at 8.00 am local time on Friday morning and there will be a cut to the top-60 professionals and ties after 36 holes.
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