Michelle Wie has 68 in Ladies
German Open

FROM THE LADIES EUROPEAN TOUR WEBSITE
By BETHAN CUTLER
Sweden’s Nina Reis posted a flawless eight-under-par 64 at Golf Club Gut Häusern to take a two shot lead after the first round of the HypoVereinsbank Ladies German Open presented by Audi.
The 28-year-old from Gothenburg posted eight birdies, with four on each of the front and back nine, to lead over England’s Lora Fairclough and France’s Jade Schaeffer on six-under-par 66.
Reis finished with two birdies and revealed that she had been aiming to equal or better her career low round of 64.
“After the front nine I was four under and my best round is eight under and I wanted to shoot eight under or better,” said Reis, who is playing in her third Ladies European Tour event of the year.
“I hit good shots all day and made some good putts. I never really made any mistakes. I thought the scores were going to be low because there are a few par fives that are really short but still there are some holes that you really have to place the ball where it’s really narrow so you can make bogey easily too.”
Reis has had a miserable run of four missed cuts in her most recent events played on the US LPGA Tour, while Fairclough and Schaeffer were two of the other players who prospered in the hot and dry conditions.
Fairclough recently moved house from Chorley to Woking in Surrey and has been working on creating more stability in her swing with her new coach Neil Plimmer at Mid Sussex Golf Club. She said: “I’ve just missed three cuts in a row so for me it’s such a positive; just that I’m not hitting the ball sideways like I was doing. I’m experienced enough to know that it’s three days away. I’ve got a long way to go and a tournament was never won on the first day. I like the German Open. I’ve won it once in 1998.”
Schaeffer arrived in Germany on the back of a missed cut in Switzerland but her driving has since improved. “I hit some very long drives today and I had some very short holes,” said the 21-year-old from Strasbourg.
Meanwhile England’s Natalie Booth, who now lives in Abu Dhabi, tied for fourth with Italy’s Veronica Zorzi and Spain’s Marta Prieto on five-under-par 67. Michelle Wie shot 68 and was one of eight players in a share of seventh place on four-under. The 18-year old American birdied three of her first five holes as well as the par-four 17th coming in, but failed to take advantage on the par fives. “I would take another three-under-par on the first five holes any day,” said Wie, who added that she feels she has lost some of her length since hurting her wrist last year. “I’m still in the rehab process just really building up to what I had before. It’s definitely on the right track. I don’t feel like I’m holding on,” she said. “I felt like I played really well but I felt like I left a couple out there as well.”
The event is the first on the Ladies European Tour to be held in Germany in seven years.
FIRST ROUND SCOREBOARD
Par 72
64 Nina Reid (Swe).
66 Lora Fairclough (Eng), Jade Schaeffer (Fra).
67 Natalie Claire Booth (Eng), Veronica Zorzi (Ita), Marta Prieto (Spa).
68 Martina Gillen (Ire), Lynn Brooky (NZ), Michele Wie (US), Paula Marti (Spa), Gwladys Nocera (Fra), Christine Hallstrom (Swe), Margherita Rigon (Ita), Louise Stahle (Swe).
Other scores:
69 R Bell (Eng), F Johnson (Eng), B Brewerton (Wal), H Zuel (Eng)
70 J Morley (Eng), F More (Eng), R Hudson (Eng), L Hall (Wal), L Hall (Eng).
71 K Imrie (Sco), L Kenny (Sco) (jt 43rd).
72 M Reid (Eng), E McKinnon (NZ), J Wilson (jt 64th).
74 R Coakley (Ire), J Clingan (Eng), K Matharu (Eng) (jt 93rd).
75 C Queen (Sco) (jt 105th).