Smith and Pei-Yun seize lead in LPGA Tour finale
MIAMI: Australia’s Sarah Jane Smith and Taiwan’s Chien PeiYun, each seeking her first LPGA Tour title, both fired bogey-free six-under 66s to share the lead after the opening round of the season-ending Tour Cham-pionship.
The showdown at Tiburon Golf Club in Naples, Florida, features 12 top players vying for a US$1mil (RM4.2mil) season playoff bonus as well as final shots in Player of the Year and low- scoring Vardon Trophy races.
Smith’s best LPGA results of the year were a share of third in the Women’s Australian Open in February and a share of fifth two weeks ago at the Japan Classic. Her best career showing was a share of second at the 2014 Kingsmill Championship.
“It’s feeling good at the moment,” Smith said.
“Holed some nice putts. It was a bit rough in the beginning, but holed some nice putts for par and sort of kept it going, and then made some good birdies coming in.”
Pei-Yun, an LPGA rookie, managed her best round since July, when she had her lone top-10 Tour showing of the year, sharing third at the Marathon Classic.
“I don’t think too much. Just hit the ball,” Pei-Yun said.
“Just need to more believe myself. I change a little backswing so feel a little bit more solid.
“This has been a good year for me.
“This is last tournament so I just want to finish it and get some rest.”
New Zealand’s Lydia Ko, the longshot among the 12 players chasing the US$1mil bonus prize, fired a 67 to share third with France’s Karine Icher, Spain’s Azahara Munoz, Norway’s Suzann Pettersen and South Korea’s Park Sunghyun.
Sung-hyun had the best start among five players who can take the season bonus with a victory no matter how anyone else fares.
Among the other four, world No. 1 Feng Shanshan of China and Canada’s Brooke Henderson shared 18th on 70 with American Lexi Thompson on 71 and Ryu So-yeon of South Korea on 72.
Smith eagled the par-5 sixth hole and birdied the par-3 eighth, then began the back nine with another birdie and added back-to-back birdies at the par-5 14th and par-4 15th. — AFP