A rain-ridden Friday at the Aramco Korea Championship ended with France’s Perrine Delacour and Germany’s Patricia Schmidt tied at the top on three-under par. The former, a recent winner at the Investec SA Women’s Open, also tops the Team event with her side on 13-under par.
Despite a beautiful week in Seoul the heavens opened on Friday with the rainful proving a tough test for the stars of the Ladies European Tour (LET).
Out in the first group of the day, Delacour, alongside her squad of Maha Haddioui, Eleanor Givens and Polly Mack, set the benchmark teaming up for 14 birdies to post a combined score of 13-under par. They lead Team Kouskova by one shot.
The captain, Olympian Delacour, led from the front carding five birdies and dropping just two shots at New Korea Country Club for a round of 69 (-3).
She said: “It definitely felt good and I think the fact that we’re flying in the team is definitely helping me a lot – being able to rely on your partners when you hit a bad shot. Especially given the rain and all the [weather] troubles we’ve had, I’m pretty happy about it.
“The course is playing hard. If you hit it past the hole it can be hard and you can make bogeys. So it’s all about being patient and trusting the process. I actually feel pretty good [despite all the travelling]. I’m not too jetlagged. I was for sure struggling a little bit in the US [playing on the LPGA] because after my win in South Africa, I was expecting to have three weeks off, but it turned into only one week and my coach was there for that week, so it was one week of training.”
Joining her at the top of the Individual leaderboard is fellow LET winner Schmidt. The German, winner of the 2023 Belgian Ladies Open, also made five birdies dropping her only shots of the day at the par-4 1st and par-3 11th.
Schmidt said: “I hit a lot of fairways and gave myself a lot of easy two putts which was important on this course. I birdied the final hole which gives me a lot of confidence heading into tomorrow. I’ll just stick to the same game plan, nothing special. Hit fairways and greens and try to make lots of easy pars.
“My caddie is new for this week, Smilla [Soenderby]’s boyfriend [Mikolaj Kniaginin]. He’s a really good chatting partner which is important. He does a good job. He kept everything dry – it rained from the range up until the final green. I didn’t feel too stressed at all today. He helped keep me calm.”
Three players share third spot on two-under par, a trio which includes South Africa’s Lee-Anne Pace, Ecuador’s Daniela Darquea and defending champion Hyo Joo Kim from South Korea.
Playing in front of her fan club, the shooting stars, Kim recovered well after going out in 37 (+1) posting three birdies in a row at the 12th, 13th and 14th for a card of 70 (-2).
Competing two weeks after her runner-up finish at The Chevron Championship, the home favourite said: “There were some points where I could have done better, but overall I was satisfied. My performance got better throughout the round. I told myself on the back nine I couldn’t go over par. I know I can do better tomorrow.
“I feel confident and it’s a lot of fun. I have a lot of fans rooting for me. I just want to live up to expectations but I feel confident about defending my title. It’s been raining and the weather has not been so good but I have my fans rooting for me. It’s a great help and it spurs me on.”
Germany’s Aline Krauter holds solo sixth on one-under par thanks to a round of 71 (-1) in the Seoul showers. Ten players share seventh spot on even-par.
With the 36-hole Team event concluding tomorrow, sides will go out in score order with Team Delacour the final group to tee off at 12:09pm local time.
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