Australia’s Minjee Lee fired a 7-under 65 on Thursday to seize a one-shot lead after the opening round of the Blue Bay LPGA event in Hainan Island, China.
Lee’s bogey-free round at Jian Lake Blue Bay Golf Course started at No. 10 and featured four birdies on the back nine and three on the front.
Lee, who won this tournament in 2016, said her strategy paid off with the tricky greens. She hit 17 of 18 greens and finished with 28 putts.
“I hit a lot of good lag putts and just tried to be on the right parts of the green,” she said. “They’re so small and the hills are so severe that I think sometimes you just can’t help it. You just have to accept it and then just accept the putt that you have.”
Sarah Schmelzel carded the day’s only other bogey-free round and is tied for second at 6-under with China’s Ruixin Liu and Miranda Wang.
Schmelzel, who led after the first round of last week’s HSBC Women’s World Championship, successfully navigated the 6,712-yard layout’s variable conditions.
“It was definitely the tale of two nines,” she said. “The front nine didn’t have much wind. If you had a wedge, you were pretty much aiming right at the pin; whereas on the back nine if you had a wedge, you had a downslope that maybe the pin was right over and you couldn’t necessarily go right at it because the wind might take it past the hole and over the green.”
Liu and Wang each posted seven birdies and a bogey. Liu birdied four consecutive holes at Nos. 12-15, while Wang birdied four in a row at Nos. 14-17.
Eleven players are within three shots of the leader heading into Friday. Caroline Inglis, Luci Li and South Korea’s Hye-Jin Choi are tied for fifth after opening rounds of 67. Choi balanced eight birdies with three bogeys, Inglis birdied five straight holes (Nos. 14-18) and Li eagled the par-5 eighth hole.
Defending champion Gaby Lopez of Mexico is tied for 31st place after posting a 71. That’s the same score carded by 14-year-old amateur Yijia Ren of China.
Two Korean players were forced to withdraw due to injury, with Jenny Shin departing after nine holes and In Gee Chun pulling out after finishing at 3-over 75.
–Field Level Media
