In perfect conditions for scoring Beatriz Recari of Spain got play under way today at the 40th Ricoh Women’s British Open at Woburn Golf Club.
The 2013 European Solheim Cup team star struck the first tee shot at 6.30am before the sun burst through the light cloud cover and had just the start she had been hoping for as she birdied the first two holes. Although she bogeyed the short sixth, a solid birdie putt from around eight feet on the seventh followed by another on the ninth saw her through the turn in 33 strokes.
Thailand’s Ariya Jutanugarn, the 2013 Lalla Meryem Cup winner and three-time LET champion Azahara Muñoz (pictured) were the early front runners on four-under-par after nine holes.
Jutanugarn birdied the second, third, fifth and ninth on the wide but tree-lined layout while Muñoz birdied the fourth, fifth, seventh and ninth holes.
Meanwhile United States Solheim Cup player Alison Lee, I.K. Kim, Sei Young Kim and this year’s ISPS HANDA Women’s Australian Open winner Haru Nomura from Japan were all making a charge at three-under early in their rounds.
Dame Laura Davies, who is playing in her 32nd consecutive Ricoh Women’s British Open alongside Lee and Suzann Pettersen, has attracted the largest gallery of the morning. The winner in 1986 at Royal Birkdale, who received an invitation to play in the championship, Davies was one-over after eight holes, having mixed three bogeys with two birdies.
