Women's Australian Open: Charley Hull and Melissa Reid in contention as Ilhee Lee leads
Thursday 19 February 2015 12:46, UK
English duo Charley Hull and Melissa Reid are three shots adrift of leader Ilhee Lee after the opening round of the Women's Australian Open.
The former Solheim Cup winners both carded two-under 71s in Melbourne, albeit in contrasting fashion, with Reid recording three birdies and one bogey and Hull having a much more mixed round.
Last week's RACV Ladies Masters runner-up had been four-under with four holes to go, before four-putting for a double-bogey six at the par-4 15th and dropping another stroke by three-putting in a bogey at the 17th.
Hull kept in contention by firing six birdies during her round and was pleased with her early progress.
"I’m quite happy with the way it’s going," the 18-year-old said. “I had a good steady round. I just changed my swing coach six weeks ago, and I’ve been working with a new coach. So i didn’t expect to be playing as well as I am this quickly."
South Korea's Ilhee Lee shot a flawless five-under 68, including four birdies from six holes on the back nine, to hold a one-shot lead over Thailand's Ariya Jutanugarn.
Lee only made a late decision to come to Melbourne after her coach, World Golf Hall of Fame member Sandra Haynie, convinced her she had the game to contend on a course that claimed her before the cut in her only previous Sandbelt appearance in 2012.
"It's good to see how improved my golf is this year because I was here in 2012 (and) how I see the golf course at that time and now (is) totally different," she said. "It's really, really fun to see how much I have improved since then."
World no 1 Lydia Ko, who announced earlier this week she plans to retire by the age of 30 to become a psychologist, opened with a three-under 70 to join Min Seo Kwak and Alena Sharp two shots adrift.
Ko carded birdies at the sixth and tenth, before draining a 36-foot eagle putt at the par-five 14th to make amends for her only bogey of the day at the previous hole.
"It's a tough course and I tried to stay patient," Ko said. "I didn't hole that many putts but I didn't make that many mistakes with it either, so that's important."
