Kirsten Rudgeley, Fatima Fernandez Cano, and Tiffany Arafi share the lead after day one at the Ladies Italian Open after the trio all opened with rounds of 66 (-6) in Lazio.
On a sun-soaked Friday at Golf Nazionale, Rudgeley set the early standard signing a bogey-free card which included a wonderful chip-in on the par-5 18th (the Aussie’s 9th hole).
“It was a nice round of golf,” the 23-year-old said. “Bogey-free. Didn’t really do much wrong. It was quite a relaxing round of golf which was a bonus. There’s holes which you have to really think about and there’s others where you have to be careful off the tee.
“I keep saying I’m getting there. There’s just a few little things I still need to work on. Probably just minimising mistakes. I’ll keep plugging away and see how I go.”
Also chasing a maiden Ladies European Tour (LET) win, Rudgeley was followed by Fernandez Cano moments later after the Spaniard bounced back brilliantly from a bogey on the par-4 1st to post seven birdies.
“I started off a little bit slow with a bogey,” she said. “It took me a while to get those birdies coming. There’s a few holes on the front nine which I find a little bit more challenging. So me and my caddie said we just have to get through those holes. I just kept hitting it solid and eventually holed a few putts.
“The big thing was to keep it on line off the tee. That has not been my strong suit lately, unfortunately, but luckily for me, me and my coach talked about it and worked on a few things the other day.
“It’s been an up-and-down year. I have been playing solid golf. I knew it was going to come together at some point. I’m happy. I took a year off last year with an injury so this year has been all about coming back into it.”
Closing out the morning wave at Golf Nazionale, the duo were joined by Switzerland’s Arafi who continued her excellent momentum having finished runner-up on the LET Access Series (LETAS) last week. All three players are yet to record a victory on the LET.
Arafi said: “It was a really nice round. I really enjoyed it and I really like the course. It’s in great shape. The greens were easy to read for me today! I’m on a good curve at the moment and I’m enjoying it. I made a lot of technique changes which are finally working out. I went from really flat swing to a much less one which gives me more options of shots.”
A bunched leaderboard follows the trio with India’s Diksha Dagar and Czechia’s Sara Kouskova – playing together late in the afternoon – fourth and fifth respectively on four-under par and five-under par.
Six players share sixth on three-under par to round out the top-10. This group includes South Africa’s Lee-Anne Pace, Germany’s Leonie Harm, Austria’s Sarah Schober, Switzerland’s Kim Metraux, as well as American duo Katherine Muzi and Olivia Schmidt.
Playing in her first ever LET event, Schmidt, formerly on the Epson Tour, said: “It was a good day and I had a lot fun. I played Epson last year and lost my card so I decided to try LET. I played on the Access last week and it was a very warm welcome – great people. Europe is a cool experience.”
Elsewhere, Australia’s Whitney Hillier made a welcomed return to Tour after a year away with illness carding a round of 70 (-2) to the delight of everyone on the LET.
On the home front, Italy’s Alessandra Fanali posted a round of 71 (-1) to share 19th position. She is joined by PING Junior Ryder Cup star and rising star Francesca Fiorellini. The full leaderboard can be found here.
Round two of the Italian Ladies Open gets underway on Saturday morning at 8:00 local time. Follow all the action throughout the tournament on our socials – @LETgolf on Instagram, TikTok and X, and Ladies European Tour on YouTube and Facebook – #RaiseOurGame | #LadiesItalianOpen
