Georgia Hall smashes course record in Saudi Arabia

And she casually smashed the ladies' course record in the process too.

Finishing her totally bogey-free round at -7 she holds the overnight lead going into Round 2 of the first ever women's professional golf tournament to take place in Saudi Arabia.

Her 65 smashed the ladies course record at Royal Green Golf & Country Club, and she started it off with three back-to-back birdies from the 10th hole.

She carded seven birdies overall, and spookily enough it's another Hall who finished one stroke behind the Parkstone golfer.

Welsh star Lydia Hall also played beautifully and she is -6 and one stroke off the lead going into Friday.

24-year-old Georgia said: “I was pleased with today and took advantage of the morning tee time. It was pretty windy on the back-nine but I’m happy with my score. I am very focused this week, It’s only day one but I wanted a good start and I will go back to the range and prepare for tomorrow.”

Georgia also scored seven under par during her final round in Dubai last week, and after a summer that saw her get her first LPGA win in the US and two victories on the Rose Ladies Series, she is feeling happy and full of confidence.

Georgia said: “I love playing on the LET, it’s my home tour and where I started my career, I always try and come back when I can, I love all the staff and I am close to a lot of the players. I enjoy catching up as best as I can, and I was happy to see Emily [Perderson] doing well this year. I’ve known her since I was about 12 and I texted her as soon as she won in Czech Republic. I'm really pleased she is back to her best.”

Meanwhile Lydia, who shot an amazing EIGHT birdies in her round of 66, said: “There’s definitely an advantage starting on ten this morning, there’s not much wind and it’s picking up this morning. It was nice to get out, post a score and see two Hall’s at the top.”

“I’ve made a few swing changes in lockdown and played terribly in Scotland , the worst I have played for a very long time so I re-evaluated after that and continued doing what I know, what my swing does and I managed my game. Last week I struggled with the lights and the grain but it was nice to read the putts this week and if I start them on line, they go in.”

Well, the changes are definitely paying off!

Finally, Laura Davies also edged into the top 10 with a round of 70 and two under. She finished as the next highest Brit on the leaderboard at T8 alongside Leonie Harm, who took the opening tee shot, and Argentinian Magdalena Simmermacher.

It was a fantastic first day for the groundbreaking tournament and we still have six more days of golf in Saudi Arabia to go.

Happy, happy days.

You can reader Editor Harriet Shephard's analysis of the issues surrounding the Saudi Ladies International HERE.

And also check out our guide to the tournament along with the full leaderboard on the LET website.