The first round of the Ricoh Women’s British Open is well underway as the skies begin to clear.. Here’s what’s happened so far, plus Dame Laura Davies’ predictions for the weekend.
The first round of the Ricoh Women’s British Open is well underway, and the skies are beginning to clear after a rainy start in Lancashire. Here’s what’s happened so far, plus Dame Laura Davies’ predictions for the weekend…
Leading today’s play with almost half the field still to go out is German Sandra Gal, who has set the tone for the tournament with an opening round of 4-under par. Gal carded four back-to-back birdies starting from the par-3 5th hole, following up with two more birdies at the 10th and 11th.
With high hopes after last week’s win at the Aberdeen Standard Investments Ladies Scottish Open, World number one and 2016 winner, Ariya Jutanugarn, did not start her round as planned at Royal Lytham and St Annes, making a double bogey at the 2nd. 2015 winner Inbee Park finished her round with a disappointing 4-over par, 76.
Looking closer to home and with the English flag scattered at the top of the LET and LPGA leaderboards more and more, could we see a win from one of the home nations this year?
Georgia Hall started her round as she means to go on with a birdie two at the 1st hole, whilst Bronte Law, as one of the first players on the course this morning, finished her round with a 2-under par score of 70- an impressive feat given the conditions early on.
In a press conference yesterday, Dame Laura Davies, who is making her remarkable 38th consecutive appearance in the championship, commented that there are high hopes of a home victory. When asked her thoughts on the state of the British game, she said, “Oh, very strong. Jody Shadoff… Mel (Reid) is starting to play well again. There's a good crop of young English players, which is great to see”.
“I love to see it. Charley (Hull) I think, is going to have a massive chance this week, and Georgia wasn't playing great at the start of the year, but she's started playing well again now. So yeah, there should be a good showing this week”.
Charley Hull teed off at lunch time today alongside last year’s winner In-Kyung Kim. Kim made an early birdie at the 2nd whilst Hull has kicked off her Major opportunity with steady pars.
With the first round well and truly underway, all that’s left to do is to sit back and watch the drama unfold…
