American Morgan Pressel and Sweden’s Camilla Lennarth shot a six-under 66 Thursday and share the opening round lead at the RICOH Women’s British Open being played at St. Andrews.
They are at the top of a very crowded leaderboard where seven players are T-3rd just one shot behind them. That group includes Rolex Rankings No. 2 Stacy Lewis and No. 4 Na Yeon Choi. Eight players are T-10th just two shots behind, including 2009 Champion and Rolex Rankings No. 10 Catriona Matthew and No. 11 Paula Creamer.
The World’s No. 1 Inbee Park, who is looking for an unprecedented fourth professional Major win in the same year, is in contention being one of 20 players T-18th at three-under. That group features Rolex Rankings No. 5 So Yeon Ryu, No. 7 Shanshan Feng teh World’s No. 1 Amateur, New Zealander 17-years-old phenom Lydia Ko.
Pressel shared third place at the LPGA Championship earlier this year, but has just one other Top 10 finish this season. She got off to a quick start with a birdie on the first hole and followed it up a short birdie putt on No. 5. The only blemish came right after that when she found sand off the tee at the Par-4 sixth and that led to a bogey. But shortly after she made the turn at two-under, she made four birdies in five holes starting at the Par-3 11th, getting to her closing score of six-under.
Pressel is one spot out of making the Solheim Cup team this week, said when asked if she had a dollar for every time she thought about the Solheim Cup: “I'd be a bizillionaire. I've had a lot of support and it's been nice. I saw Laura Diaz on -- I made birdie on 15 I think, and I looked over and she was on, would it be the third hole, and she gave me a little thumbs-up. I've had a few players on the team send me notes, focus on your game, you know what you can do and don't worry about it.
She added: “That's definitely helpful and very kind, and I appreciate it very much. I hope to be in Denver.” The 25-year-old Pressel became the youngest-ever winner of a modern LPGA major championship when she won the 2007 Kraft Nabisco Championship.
Lennarth was one of the last players on the course today, playing in the third-to-last group with Irene Cho and Eun-Hee Ji. She played a flawless, bogey-free round, where she hit all 16 fairways and all 18 greens-in-regulation. She made three birdies on each nine, playing them equally at 33. She closed her superb opening round with a birdie on 18th tying Pressel for the lead.
Lennarth’s comment about her surprising appearance atop the leaderboard: “Of course I'm surprised that I'm tied for the lead, but I know I can hit good golf shots. It's just a matter of putting them all together at once, and I did today and I'm satisfied.”
The 25-year-old Swede Lennarth, is a former three-time All-American at the University of Alabama and was a rookie last year on the LPGA. She currently plays in in the Ladies European Tour and this is her first time playing the Women’s British Open.
Stacy Lewis didn’t get the memo stating that conventional wisdom says you make your score on the Old Course’s outward half and try not to lose it on the homeward nine. She started on the back nine today and played it at five-under. She added another birdie to start her second nine moving to six-under, but a bogey on her final hole of the day—the Par-4 ninth—dropped her a shot out of the lead.
Lewis played the Curtis Cup over the Old Course in 2008, compiling a 5-0 record to help the United States to a 13-7 victory. When asked how she feels about playing in St. Andrews she said: “I love this course. I loved it when I played Curtis Cup here. I feel so comfortable here. It’s a much different feeling to any other British Open I’ve ever played because I know the golf course.”
She added: “Usually you go to an Open and you have no clue where all the bunkers are and things like that.”
Na Yeon Choi did receive the memo on conventional wisdom and starting on the first tee she feasted on the front nine making the turn at four-under. She added another birdie on the Par-4 10th to move to five-under, but a bogey on the 11th moved her back to four-under. She did close nicely with a birdie on the 18th hole to join the pack T-3rd at five-under.
Choi hit all fairways and missed only one green-in-regulation today, the 11th. When asked to assess her round she said: “I had a lot of birdies out there. I think 18 birdie was highlight today. I missed not many fairways. I didn't miss very many greens and my shot was great today.
I mean, my coach, he's here and then like we came here on Saturday, we practiced like five days before the tournament and I got a really good tip from him. I really tried to just stick with that goal, that little tip. So I think that worked very well but still I have to play 54 more holes, so hopefully, I keep that feeling until like Sunday.”
Nicole Castrale, Mi-Jeong Jeon, Eun-Hi Jee, Synee Michaels and Ryan O’Toole are also tied wit hLewis and Yeon Choi at five-under.
Castrale and Ji both played amazing front nines and were at one point at six-under before they made the lone bogeys of their respective rounds. Castrale bogeyed 15th and Ji 13th. O’Toole played a bogey-free round with five birdies.
Matthew and Creamer who are part of the group T-10th that includes Danielle Kang, Liz Young, Dori Carter, Pernilla Lindberg Lizette Salas and amateur Georgia Hall.
Matthew mixed in three birdies and two bogeys before closing masterfully with back-to-back birdies on the tough Road Hole 17th and the 18th.Creamer had a solid, bogey-free round that saw her score four birdies while she hit all the greens-in-regulation
Inbee Park got off to a blazing start blitzing to six-under after she made her sixth birdie of the day on the Par-4 10th. But she shwoed why she is human after all when she made a three-putt bogey on 13th, a double-bogey on 16th dropping to two-under and three-putt bogey on 17th to drop to two-under.
She stopped the damage thanks to rolling in a six-foot birdie on the 18th hole, ending the slide that saw her drop four shots in a five-hole span.
Whe asked to describe how she felt after the round, she said: “Felt like a roller coaster today. I played very good on the front nine and then I had a little bit shaky on the back nine.
But I still feel really good about the game. I was 6-under through ten holes and that means I could do the same thing tomorrow. There was a couple of bad drives and a couple of bad putts on the back nine, but it's the first round, and could have been much better. A little bit disappointing, but I'm glad that I've done that in the first round instead of the first round instead of the final round."
"Yeah, I'm looking to improve the next three days.” Her quest for the Grand Slam and a sub-sequent Penta Slam achievement is very much alive. After seeing her demise in the back nine she is still just three shots from the lead.
Defending Champion, Jiyai Shin, opened with a one-under 71 and is in a huge group T-54th. The Top 65 and ties will make the cut. And right now stands at one-under with 73 players at it or better.