Minjee Lee on top at wet and windy Women’s Scottish Open
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Australia's Minjee Lee competes during the Paris Olympics.
PHOTO: AFP
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AYRSHIRE – Minjee Lee saw the positives in tough, windy conditions as she carded a bogey-free, five-under 67 to rise to the top of the first-round leaderboard at the Women’s Scottish Open on Aug 15 in Ayrshire, Scotland.
After wet weather led to multiple delays to proceedings at Dundonald Links, 42 golfers were still on the course when play was suspended due to darkness at around 9.10pm local time.
By that point, Australia’s Lee had moved in front of American Megan Khang and South Korea’s Kim A-lim, tied for second at 68. When the first round resumed on Aug 16, American Lucy Li joined the pair in sitting one shot behind Lee.
Singapore’s Shannon Tan mixed five birdies, two bogeys and a double-bogey for a fine one-under 71 to be joint-23rd.
Lee, a two-time Major champion, went out on two under before adding birdies at Nos. 10, 14 and 18, the latter two on par-five holes. She is on the hunt for her first win of 2024.
“I like the creativity of links golf,” said the 28-year-old. “You know, obviously there was a lot of wind today, so it was playing like a true links kind of golf course.
“Sometimes we don’t get as much wind but today was blowing a gale and I feel like just picturing the shots and just having to execute those shots – I didn’t find it fun to play. Just when you execute it correctly, you get rewarded.”
Lee carded a three-under 69 in the second round, which was still going on at press time, while Tan had a 77 after mixing six bogeys with a birdie.
Earlier on Aug 15, Khang stood near a puddle off the green and holed an unlikely chip-in birdie at the par-five fifth hole, her 14th hole of the day, to take the lead.
She made her sixth and final birdie of the day at No. 7 to set the early lead at four under.
“I walked up to my ball after the poor second shot and my heels were kind of in a little standing water... I hit a lovely chip and very lucky to have got it to drop,” said Khang.
“I’m very happy we were able to finish the round and kind of gets me done for the day.”
New Zealand’s Lydia Ko, fresh off winning gold at the Paris Olympics to add to her Rio 2016 silver and Tokyo 2020 bronze, opened the tournament with a 69 that featured five birdies for tied-fifth.
Like many golfers, she sees this week as a useful tune-up for the Women’s British Open, which starts on Aug 22 at St Andrews.
Ko said: “I think it kind of depends who adjusts the best in a short amount of time... We have two weeks over here playing links-style golf courses, so all in all, it’s great preparation for next week, even though this is a different style of course to St Andrews.” REUTERS
