Women's British Open first round
France's Anne-Lise Caudal shares the clubhouse lead at the Ricoh Women's British Open today with Korea's Amy Yang, despite Caudal opening her challenge with a bogey on the very first hole.
At a tough day at Birkdale, where conditions seemed calm one minute and blustery the next, the pair finished a stroke ahead of their nearest rivals on three-under-par 69.
Caudal atoned for her early error with four birdies, including a crucial one on the 18th to put daylight between her and the competition, but Yang soon matched that feat, birdying the 18th to keep pace with the Frenchwoman after she too had suffered an inauspicious start, having bogeyed the 2nd.
Another Korean, In-Kyung Kim was tied for second place on two-under with America's Brittany Lincicome. Seven players are tied for fifth place on one-under, including world No. 1, Korea's Jiyai Shin, and the veteran US player Juli Inkster.
Sweden's Anna Nordqvist and England's Laura Davies were amongst those tied for 14th place on level par, while Michelle Wie is struggling in 30th place on one-over, the 20-year-old American starting with a bogey, though she's kept the damage down to a minimum since then, playing the next 15 holes to par.
The USA's Paula Creamer, looking to bag her second major in the space of a month, having won the Women's US Open two weeks ago, was off to a slow start, going two-over after carding four bogeys and a couple of birdies. Norway's Suzann Pettersen was on the same score, the world No. 4 finding three bogeys and just one birdie on this opener.
And last year's winner, Scotland's Catriona Matthew, was three-over, after a round that saw her card a birdie and four bogeys.
Tags: