The first round of the AIG Women’s Open is in the books and after a day where the wind would take its toll, the best of the LPGA Tour were able to survive the tough conditions and after the first day's play, the tournament is looking incredibly poised.
Leading the way after 18 holes is Charley Hull. Aiming to become the first British winner of this prestigious tournament since Georgia Hall succeeded in 2018, Hull will be looking to go one place better than her second place finish at last year’s tournament.
One of the most naturally talented players on the LPGA Tour, Hull is yet to win a major but after a great first round she will hope to end that unwanted record this week.
With the wind still set to blow, the next three rounds look set to contain plenty of drama. With the best players on the LPGA Tour set to make their moves, here are the talking points from today’s first round.
Hull keeps cool to jump to the front of the pack
After being unable to see out the job at last week’s Scottish Open, Charley Hull has clearly been able to take the positives out of her fifth place finish and bring positive momentum into this week’s Women’s Open.
Paired with Nelly Korda and Lillia Vu, you could be mistaken for thinking that Hull might feel the pressure in front of an expectant home crowd, but she showed nerves of steel as she handled both the conditions and occasion with ease.
Jumping out to a steady start, solid driving put Hull in plenty of positions to make birdie and having seemingly got to grips with the speeds of the greens, her first birdie of the week came on the fifth hole. Despite her dropping that shot just three holes later, another birdie would follow on the ninth and she would make the turn three off the lead held by Rose Yin.
Happy with her front nine, Hull went on a charge up the back nine. Making birdies on the tenth, twelfth, fifteenth and eighteenth holes and ensuring she kept her back nine blemish free, Hull ended the day at -5 and leading by one.
With everything about St Andrew’s looking to be up her street, her power off the tee and the wide open fairways will make her a formidable force over the next three days.
Composure will be the key to her chances, needing to ensure she keeps the mistakes at bay, if Hull can come close to replicating today’s performance she could be the one the rest of the field need to catch.
St Andrew’s shines in Open spotlight
With the wind blowing, St Andrew’s bore its teeth during the first round and ensured that any player who ended the day in the red numbers had to work hard for every shot that was earned.
With the fairways firm and the greens fast, even the slightest of mistakes were penalised and every player really had to think their way around the course.
Because of the tough conditions the pace of play was slow today with the group of Korda, Vu and Hull taking over six hours to complete their rounds. Whilst that is far too long, it shows just how hard St Andrew’s is playing and the level of thought that is required in order to keep the mistakes off a card.
St Andrew’s presents a challenge that the best in the LPGA rarely come across and throughout the day we saw plenty of imagination and great examples of skill. With that needed to continue over the next three days, there is every chance that St Andrew’s could play host to a truly special Women’s Open.
Stars find themselves well placed
Looking at the current state of the leaderboard it is a script writer's dream.
Positioned one shot behind Hull are the duo of Nelly Korda and Ruoning Yin. Since Korda’s historic start to the year where she won six titles, things have cooled and she has missed the cut in three of her last four starts. Arriving with a point to prove and with some doubting her title credentials, Korda showed that St Andrew’s is a course she can succeed round.
Saving her best for last, the world number one rattled home three birdies in her final five holes to end the day on -4. Like Hull, Korda has the power to cut through the conditions and if she can also keep the mistakes at bay, Korda should find herself right in the mix by the time Sunday rolls around.
The challenge that Lillia Vu faces in defending the title she won last year at Woburn could hardly be any more different here. Whereas Woburn can play like your traditional American course, St Andrew’s is anything but and the world number two would have been ecstatic to end the day just two shots off the lead held by Hull.
By no means the most powerful, Vu at times struggled with the blustery conditions but her magnificent approach play and wonderful putting kept her in contention. As long as she doesn’t leave herself with too much to do off the tee, Vu should be a name we see near the top of the leaderboard for most of the weekend.
The early pacesetter of round 1 was Chinese star Ruoning Ying. The world number 6, Ying showed plenty of class to fire herself to an opposing total of -4.
Having had to play in the worst of the conditions, Ying would have been delighted with her opening 68. Set to be one of the later starters tomorrow, she will hope to have the best of the conditions as she bids to win a second career major.
Round 2 Betting
If you want to place a bet on the outright winner of the Women’s Open, here is how the top ten in the betting currently looks.
Nelly Korda - 10/3
Charley Hull - 4/1
Lillia Vu - 8/1
Ruoning Ying - 8/1
Mao Saigo - 14/1
Hyo Joo Kim - 16/1
Patty Tavatanakit - 16/1
Lydia Ko - 18/1
Jenny Shin - 20/1
Andrea Lee - 25/1
Jack Hartman
A keen golfer and huge fan of the game, Jack has been covering golf for the last five years. Bringing you all the latest coverage and news from the PGA, LIV, LPGA and DP World Tours, never before has golf been so popular and Jack can’t wait to bring all the excitement to his readers.
