America’s Amy Olson shot a superb round of 67 (-4) to take a three-shot lead over the chasing pack on a thrilling opening day at the AIG Women’s Open at Royal Troon.
In her fourth appearance in the prestigious championship, Olson was the only player in the 144-strong field to break 70 and one of only three players to break par in a cruel day on the links that brought many major champions to their knees.
Playing at around a four-five club wind for most of the day, the bright and breezy conditions were slightly easier in the afternoon although, the late starters did endure some hostile rain to balance it out.
Speaking after the ‘round of the day’, Olson, who ties Juli Inkster (2006) and Mirim Lee (2016) for the largest first round lead in this event, said, “That was the best ball-striking day of my life. I kept the trajectory I wanted on every shot and my start lines were really good, which was especially important those first nine holes going out into the wind.”
Olson continued, “Growing up in North Dakota, it gets extremely windy so I grew up playing the ball very low, and I’ve adjusted my ball flight to be higher to be able to play a lot of our Tour golf courses, but I still have the ability to bring it down, and I think that served me very well over here.”
Not getting ahead of herself, Olson, who recorded her highest major finish in 2018 with a T2 place at the Evian Championship said, “Tomorrow is going to be similar conditions to today, and it’s all about staying present and taking one shot at a time.”
Leading the European charge in T4 at level par are Solheim Cup stars Catriona Matthew, Emily Kristine Pedersen and Anna Nordqvist.
Matthew is one of Scotland’s most heralded golfers, winning this event in 2009, and used her putter to devastating effect, needing only 24 putts in her round of 71. READ MORE ON CATRIONA MATTHEW’S ROUND HERE
Going one better, two-time major winner Anna Nordqvist leads the field in putts per round, needing only 23 strokes with the flat stick in her round of 71. The 6ft-tall Swede threatened to go lower, reaching 2-under-par after 13 holes, only to be derailed by two late bogeys.
Denmark’s Emily Kristine Pedersen, who recently moved to the top of the Race to Costa Del Sol courtesy of a T2 finish last week, continued her fine form with a measured round that included two birdies and two bogeys.
“Last week was great and I kind of gave myself most of Monday off to be like, all right, take it in because I think sometimes you can skip the joys a little bit too quickly especially when we play week-after-week. So I took Monday to be like, take it in, take a few interviews, and from Tuesday, be ready for a new week, kind of reset, new focus and then that kind of helped me.”
As it stands, the cut mark which includes the top 65 and ties, would fall at four-over-par but with tomorrow’s conditions scheduled to be as challenging, we might see a few large leaps up the leaderboard with any scores better than par.
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