Solid starts
South Korea’s Ko leads Aussie Open by 2 shots
Ariya and Moriya four shots behind leader at Women’s Australian Open
ADELAIDE: South Korea’s Ko Jin-Young fired a nine-birdie opening round of 65 to lead the women’s Australian Open by two shots, while Thai sisters Ariya and Moriya Jutanugarn both shot 69s to stay four shots off the pace at Kooyonga in Adelaide yesterday.
Ko, 22, the world No.20 and a winner of 10 tournaments on the Korean tour, reached the turn at three under and rolled in six more birdies on the back nine to gather in a cluster of players who had held the lead at four under.
Ko joined the lead with a birdie at the 16th, birdied again to lead outright at the 17th before repeating the performance at the 18th to lead by two strokes at seven under in her LPGA Tour debut.
She had nine birdies for the day, two bogeys and shredded the more difficult back nine in 31 shots, with five birdies in the last six holes.
Among those on four under was former world No.1 Lydia Ko, who has been under fire for making another series of changes to her team in the off-season, but played brilliantly for a bogey-free round.
World No.7 Ariya and 21st-ranked Moriya shared 13th place with six other players, including No.3 Ryu So-Yeon of South Korea. Moriya had five birdies against two bogeys, while Ariya recovered from a bogey on the first hole to shoot four birdies.
Fellow Thais Prima Thammaraks shot a 70, Thidapa Suwannapura opened with a 71, while Saranporn Langkulgasettri and Wichanee Meechai both shots 74s.
Ko Jin-Young leads 2013 Open champion and compatriot Shin Jiyai, who followed up her win in Canberra last week with a five-under 67.
Two other major winners — American Mo Martin and Korean Yoo Sun-Young — as well as 17-year-old Japanese amateur Suzuka Yamaguchi, a recent Australian Amateur champion, are in the group at four under.
Ko, the 20-year-old New Zealander, has again switched to another coach and caddie and has had 11 caddies since turning pro five years ago.
“I’m trying to make the decisions where I think it’s the best for me in my career,” Ko said. “Sometimes, I think ‘hey, maybe I shouldn’t have done that’. But I feel like I made the right decisions.
“All I can do... is do what I think is best for me and, sometimes, not everybody is going to agree.”
Ko last year lost her world No.1 ranking amid her first winless LPGA season since 2012. She is now working under Ted Oh and added: “Hopefully, this one does go a long way.”
She birdied four of her initial 10 holes to be among a group of 10 golfers on fourunder 68.
(Par-72, a denotes amateur)
65 — Ko Jin-Young (KOR)
67 — Shin Jiyai (KOR)
68 — Caroline Inglis (USA), Caroline Hedwall (SWE), Yoo Sun-Young (KOR), Lydia Ko (NZL), Mo Martin (USA), Jodi Ewart Shadoff (ENG), Luna Sobron Galmes (ESP), a-Suzuka Yamaguchi (JPN), Emma Talley (USA), Nelly Korda (USA)
69 — Hannah Green (AUS), Choi Hye-Jin (KOR), Megan Khang (USA), Moriya Jutanugarn (THA), Ariya Jutanugarn (THA), Erynne Lee (USA), Ryu So-Yeon (USA), Chella Choi (KOR)