Ariya five shots behind as leader Joh shreds Gullane Golf Club with flawless 62
>> GULLANE: Ariya Jutanugarn began her Ladies Scottish Open campaign with a four-under-par 67 to trail leader Tiffany Joh by five shots on Thursday.
The Thai world No.3 sank five birdies and had one bogey as she shared fifth place with second-ranked Park Sung-Hyun of South Korea and five other players, including the youngest player in the field, 19-year-old Karoline Lund of Norway.
American Joh, who missed the cut at last year’s tournament, surged to the top of the leaderboard with a majestic first-round 62.
The 31-year-old — yet to record a win on the LPGA Tour — took to the sun-baked course, holing nine birdies at the same Gullane club where less than a fortnight ago South African Brandon Stone shot a men’s courserecord 60.
Joh, who was diagnosed with melanoma in January last year and had the cancerous area on her head removed, returning to the Tour just four months later, held a four-shot lead over a trio of South Koreans — Jenny Shin, Amy Yang and reigning British Open champion Kim In-Kyung.
“I pretty much kept it in play and putted amazing, that’s the only way I could describe it today,” said Joh, who opened and finished with birdies for the largest first-round lead on the LPGA Tour this year.
Seven-time LPGA winner Kim said her and her fellow Koreans may not have the habit of playing links golf but they have taken to it with alacrity.
“I mean, we play in very windy conditions and we play in rainy conditions [in Korea] and everything, but this is very different,” said Kim. “I think we’re just kind of looking at the view and like we’ve never seen it before so it’s exciting.”
Defending champion Lee MiHyang opened her title defence with a three-over 74. She came from nine strokes back heading into the weekend to win last year’s event at Dundonald Links.