Americans Jennifer Kupcho and Zoe Campos share the lead after day one at the Augusta National Women’s Amateur, both opening with 4-under par rounds of 68.
Americans Jennifer Kupcho and Zoe Campos share the lead after day one at the Augusta National Women’s Amateur, both opening with 4-under par rounds of 68.
Two days before the men move in and Masters week gets underway, an international gathering of the world's leading female amateurs descended on Champions Retreat, all eager to make it through to Saturday's round at Augusta National.
It was Kupko, a senior at Wake Forest University and number one in the World Amateur Golf Rankings, who took the outright lead early on after a bogey-free 68. She was later joined by Campus for a share at the top of the leaderboard.
Part of the USA team who won gold at the World Amateur Team Championships at Carton House last summer, Kupcho boasted a 3.5 out of 5 record at the 2018 Curtis Cup – only Ireland’s Olivia Mehaffey and her foursome’s partner Sophie Lamb from England could take a point and a half from the Colorado native. Kupcho was also part of the winning USA Palmer Cup Team at Evian Resort last summer winning 3 out of her 4 matches. Winning four times as a Junior, Kupcho also finished T21 at the 2017 Women’s US Open aged 19.
At Champions Retreat, she followed it up with a flawless round, bogey-free round, hitting 18 greens hit in regulation.
South Africa’s Kaleigh Telfer made a birdie at her last hole, the 9th, to take solo third place at 3-under-par.
After opening with a bogey on the 1st, England’s Annabell Fuller closed her round with a late birdie at the 15th for an opening score of 1-over par, tied with Ireland’s Olivia Mehaffey. Alice Hewson, also from England shot a 4-over par 76 after getting into trouble at the 14th saw her card a double bogey. With only two birdies to make up for an unsettled round including a triple bogey, England’s Lily May Humphreys shot 78.
The second round continues at Champions Retreat on Thursday. The leading 30 players will proceed to the final round at Augusta National on Saturday, after a practice round on Friday.
Image credit: David Cannon/Getty Images
