France’s Agathe Sauzon and Moroccan Ines Laklalech carded five-under-par 66s to share a one-shot lead after the first round of the Jabra Ladies Open at Evian Resort in France.
Starting at the sixth hole, Sauzon made a birdie and quickly sank another on the ninth. After making a bogey on the 12th, she made further gains on the 13th, 15th, 16th and the par-5 18th.
Her approach to the green using her 9-iron from 117 metres on the remodelled 18th was her favourite shot of the day. From there, she birdied the first hole and bogeyed the short second before closing with three steady pars.
“I like the new layout. On the 18th, the green looks wider, but you have to be careful because the water is more in play now. You don’t have a flat spot on the fairway. It’s always running downhill towards the pond,” Sauzon said.
“They changed the fifth hole as well with a bigger lake and it also looks wider, because they cut the tree from the right side of the green. The green looks a bit bigger from the tee, which is a good change.”
The winner of the Jabra Ladies Open will qualify to play in the only major championship in continental Europe at the same venue in seven weeks’ time, which is an extra incentive for the local player.
“I have never played in the Amundi Evian Championship. I have played in majors, twice in the AIG Women’s Open, but this one is my favourite and I would love to play in it. That would be a good goal, for sure,” said Sauzon (above).
Laklalech, the 2022 Lacoste Ladies Open de France winner, started her day on the par-5, 15th hole. She quickly grabbed two birdies and then bogeyed the 17th. She earned a share of the lead with birdies on the third, fourth, sixth and ninth holes then made another gain on the 12th, before dropping a shot on the 13th.
“It was a great round. Honestly, it had a bit of everything to be honest, a lot of up and downs and good birdies, so I’m very pleased with the round,” said Laklalech, adding that the experience of playing in the Amundi Evian Championship last year had been an advantage.
“It’s playing a little bit similar from the tee box, but the greens are a little bit softer. It definitely helps to have played the Amundi Evian Championship because I know the course a bit better and we played it in very tough conditions last year, with some wind, so it felt good out there today.”
Switzerland’s Morgane Metraux and Jana Melichova of Czechia are one stroke back.
Metraux, from Lausanne, the opposite side of Lake Geneva from Evian, fired five birdies and one bogey on the first day.
The 2022 Ladies Italian Open champion said: “I love this place. It always brings the best stuff out of me, so I was really excited to play this week. I played really steady golf. I wasn’t happy about all of my shots, but I was always in play, in good positions and I made a few putts. It was a very steady, controlled round.”
Melichova, the 2022 Tipsport Czech Ladies Open winner, 26, from Prague, also recorded five birdies and one bogey.
She said: “It was really good and I didn’t make many mistakes, only one. It was kind of a boring round. I was hitting fairways and greens.
“It’s very beautiful. This is my favourite event. The course is so beautiful. I’d love to get into the Evian Championship one day. It’s really something. It’s like a European Augusta, for me.”
Two French players, Nastasia Nadaud and Celine Herbin, are among a group of four who are two shots from the lead, with a further five players sharing ninth place.
The second round gets under way at 8am local time on Friday.
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