World No. 3 in women’s golf Ko Jin-young is in first place at LET Hong Kong.
World No. 3 in women’s golf, Jin Young Ko, 28, got her European Ladies European Tour (LET) outing off to a strong start.
Ko carded eight birdies and no bogeys for an 8-under 65 in the first round of the Aramco Team Series at Hong Kong Golf Club (Par 73-6511) in Sheung Shui, Hong Kong on Saturday. In second place is Anne Vandam of the Netherlands at 6-under par.
Chinese dark horse Lin Shiyu is tied for fourth at 4-under, while world No. 1 Lilia Boo of the United States was unable to cut her score and is tied for 28th at even par.
Ko, who plays primarily on the U.S. Women’s Professional Golf (LPGA) Tour, took more than a month off after the CPKC Women’s Open in late August, skipping three tournaments in between and returning to the field at the invitation of Saudi Arabia’s national oil company Aramco, which is hosting the event.
The break paid off. On the day, the world No. 3 showed off his ball-striking prowess to move up the leaderboard early. At the first turn, she was 6-under-par and well clear of the field. A few birdie putts didn’t fall in the second half, and while he dropped two strokes, it wasn’t enough to hold onto his lead.
The Aramco Team Series pairs three professionals and one amateur for the first and second rounds. After the second round, the team title is decided, and the final three rounds determine the individual champion. The amateurs are usually not professional aspirants, but members of the public invited by the organizers. Because of the different format, the matches took about 1.5 times longer than usual. By the time Ko’s group finished the first half, three hours had already passed.
Ko started with a birdie on the first hole (par-5). After hitting her ball close to two-on, she two-putted for one. He then birdied the par-4 fourth and the par-3 fifth to cut the deficit to one. His trademark awl iron shots were in full force.
He finished with a clean front nine. He birdied the last three holes to move to 6 under par.
The birdie putts didn’t follow in the second half. A hole-in-one at the par-5 11th cut the deficit to one, but he missed long birdie putts at the 10th (par-4), 12th (par-3) and 13th (par-5). But he made a final birdie on the par-4 17th to finish at 8-under.
Speaking after the match, Ko said, “I’m not 100% satisfied with my game today, but my drives and irons were good. Most importantly, I started with a birdie on the first hole and got into a good flow. I hope to keep this up for the next two days.”
“This is my first time at Hong Kong Golf Club. It has a cozy feel to it. The fairways aren’t wide, but there’s a lot of elevation change from the teeing area, so you have to feel the wind. The Bermuda grass greens were also tricky.”
He also had an unusual experience. “I felt like I was playing a pro-am,” said Ko, who completed 18 holes with an amateur. Normally, 먹튀검증토토사이트 I don’t mind if someone hits the ball behind me. But today, there was an amateur participant, so the ball was, uh.