There were so many fast starts being made at the Trust Golf Women’s Scottish Open yesterday, some of the leaders probably returned their cards and found out they had three points on their licence.
On a largely benign day at Dundonald Links, it was a time to make hay while the sun didn’t really shine. Hye Jin-Choi set a sizzling early pace with a sparkling eight-under 64 but there are plenty queuing up behind her.
The South Korean’s bold effort didn’t start particularly well. A bogey on the third, however, was swiftly erased by a thrilling salvage operation as the 22-year-old mounted a rousing surge.
Jin-Choi, with two top-five finishes in the women’s majors this season, kick-started her recovery with an eagle on the fifth before upping the ante with a trio of birdies at seven, eight and nine. Four more gains on the inward half illuminated a terrific card. That gave her a one shot lead over Celine Boutier, Lydia Ko and Lilia Vu, who all got up and running with 65s.
“My putter was very good and I made birdies when I got the chance,” she said with a simple summing up of affairs. It’s a simple game eh?
Behind her, Ko began at Dundonald where she left off at Dumbarnie a year ago. During the final round in Fife, the former world No 1 came barging up the field with a course record 63 on her way to a share of second. Yesterday, she came hurtling into contention in Ayrshire with a 65 which featured seven birdies in 11 holes between the fourth and the 14th.
“This was a course that I've played well on before on then played really, really badly too,” she said of her varied experiences of Dundonald Links. “So I had mixed emotions coming into this week. But I played really solidly. I gave myself good looks and even when I made mistakes I was pretty calm about things.” Keeping the heid in links golf has always been a valuable attribute.
During a morning that was as calm as a bath with candles and a glug of Radox, Aberdeen’s Gemma Dryburgh made the most of the relatively tranquil scene to get her campaign underway with a three-under 69.
With a solid display that has typified her season on the LPGA Tour – the former Curtis Cup player has missed just two cuts – the 29-year-old conjured a bogey-free effort. Her first birdie of the day arrived on the ninth with a breaking 15-footer before she flighted a 6-iron into eight-feet on the short 15th for another gain. A final birdie on the 17th bolstered her assault and, despite a spurned chance from four-feet on the last, the US-based Scot was content with her day’s shift.
“I think I only missed a couple of greens,” said Dryburgh. “This is the calmest Scottish Open I think I've seen.”
This was quite a change in conditions from one of her earlier experiences of a Women’s Scottish Open at The Renaissance a few years ago. “Don't remind me,” she said with a smile of a fearsome buffeting that was akin to being in the crow’s nest of a galleon in a tempest. “That was brutal. I missed the cut by one after I’d shot one-under that day - one of my best rounds ever. It would be nice to have some wind at some point this week, but you have to be careful what you wish for around here.”
Kylie Henry was the next best Scot on 71 while Louise Duncan had a tough start to her professional career with a 77.
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