CARLY BOOTH HAS SOUL-DESTROYING 11 AT ONE HOLE

Suzann Pettersen, good start in China. Picture by courtesy of Getty Images(c)

 

SUZANN BEGINS TITLE DEFENCE WITH 

A LEADING 67 IN CHINA

NEWS RELEASE

HAIKOU, CHINA: World No.2 Suzann Pettersen of Norway put herself in the perfect position to retain her World Ladies Championship title as she fired a six-under-par 67 in the first round over the Blackstone Course at Mission Hills Resort Haikou in China today.

After setting out in hot and humid conditions, the two-time major winner, who won the 2013 World Ladies Championship on the Sandbelt Trails Course at the same resort last year, birdied the tenth before picking up further shots on the 12^th and 18^th holes. 

She then eagled the par-five second, after hitting her approach to within ten feet of the flag using an eight iron and making the putt.

After dropping a stroke on the third, Suzann recovered with a birdie on the fifth and another on the sixth, which could easily have been another eagle had she not missed a putt from around four feet.

“I played a lot of good golf today and felt like I had a lot of great chances. I feel like you’ve really got to take advantage of the par fives out here,” said Pettersen, who had an eagle and three birdies on the five par fives.

“You only have some mid irons into some of them and I had one eagle, should have had two. I missed a very short eagle putt on six, so overall it was a pretty solid start.”

World No.1 amateur Minjee Lee, who won the Victoria Open 10 days ago on the Australian Ladies Professional Golf Tour and South Korean Ye Na Chung fired a pair of five-under-par 68s to share second a stroke behind Pettersen.

The 17-year-old Lee from Australia – born in Perth to South Korean parents - showed that she has the talent to mix with the best as she reeled off seven birdies and two bogeys.

She finished the day one ahead of Trish Johnson, Valentine Derrey and playing partners Gwladys Nocera and Inbee Park, with So Yeon Ryu and Nikki Campbell a stroke further behind in a share of eighth. 

Xi Yu Lin was the best placed Chinese player on one-under-par in a share of 14^th place.

World No.1 Park, the runner-up in the 2013 championship, fired three birdies and an eagle against one bogey. 

However, she couldn’t catch Lee, who said: “It feels good to be up there but it’s only the first round so anything can happen. I’m in a good position and I don’t feel like I’m out of place. I feel like I can play with the pros and it was pretty cool playing with Inbee.”

Nocera, with 12 wins on the Ladies European Tour, was pleased with her score on the beautiful but challenging volcanic golf course on tropical Hainan. She said: 

“Anything on top of the leader board is good and I feel really good about shooting that score today on the first round.”

At a media conference following her first round, Pettersen revealed the identity of the man following her outside the ropes, much to the amusement of the Chinese press.

“He’s my boyfriend!” said Pettersen, adding that his name is Christian. “We’re both Norwegian, we’re the same age and from the same town. We met through common friends. He’s an ex-skier who used to ski when he was younger. 

"He has a great understanding of the lifestyle we live and the sacrifices we make and really respects our hours on the golf course so it’s very helpful and great to have someone you can share what you do with.”

In the team competition for 18 pairs from 17 different countries running concurrently, in which China has two teams, French duo Nocera and Derrey combined for a score of 138 to lead by a stroke over South Koreans Park and Ryu, who are both ranked in the world’s top five.

The World Ladies Championship continues on Friday, with live television coverage over the weekend.
SCOTSWATCH: 

Carly Booth ran up a soul-destroying 11 at the par-5 12th hole on her way to a 13-over-par round of 86.
The Comrie girl finished a hot and humid day in 117th position in a field of 118.
Booth, who has been struggling to find her form for some time, also had a triple bogey 8 at the long sixth in halves of 40-46.
Kylie Walker had more reasons to be cheerful. She posted a one-under-par 72 to be joint 14th behind first-round leader and defending champion Suzann Pettersen, the World No 2 from Norway who had a six-under 67.
Walker had a bag of five birdies and four bogeys in halves of 34-38

Pamela Pretswell matched the par of 73 with halves of 37-36, finishing with a smile after birdieng the long 18th.
Vikki Laing (78), Heather MacRae (81) and Carly Booth face an uphill task to survive the second-round cut which is forecast to fall
at 150.
Laing is joint 75th after double bogeys at the ninth and short 15th in halves of 37 and 41.
MacRae had a disastrous second nine of 43 blows which included a triple bogey 7 at the 10th and a double bogey 6 at the 16th.

 FIRST-ROUND SCOREBOARD

  par 73

67 Suzann Pettersen (NOR)

68 Minjee Lee (AUS) (am), Ye Na Chung (SKOR)

69 Trish Johnson (ENG) , Inbee Park (SKOR) , Gwladys Nocera (FRA) , Valentine Derrey (FRA)
70 So Yeon Ryu (SKOR) , Nikki Campbell (AUS)

71 Yi Chen Liu (TPE) , Rebecca Artis (AUS) , In Gee Chun (SKOR) , Eleanor Givens (ENG)

72 Camilla Lennarth (SWE) , Hsuan-Ping Chang (TPE) , Louise Larsson (SWE) , Kylie Walker (SCO) , Ha-Na Jang (SKOR) , Xi Yu Lin (CHN)

73 Bo-Mi Suh (SKOR) , Jing Yan (CHN) , Stephanie Na (AUS) , Maria Balikoeva (RUS) , Amelia Lewis (USA) , Malene Jorgensen (DEN) , Ariya Jutanugarn (THA) , Pamela Pretswell (SCO) , Celine Herbin (FRA) , Joanna Klatten (FRA)

74 Yan Hong Pan (CHN) , Kusuma Meechai (THA), Yu Yang Zhang (CHN) , Stacey Keating (AUS), Hannah Burke (ENG) , Wichanee Meechai (THA), Tzu Chi Lin (TPE) , Diana Luna (ITA)  Sarah Kemp (AUS) , Holly Clyburn (ENG) , Viva Schlasberg (SWE) , Nina Holleder (GER) , Sophie Giquel-bettan (FRA) , Shanshan Feng (CHN)

75 Beth Allen (USA), Nicole Broch Larsen (Den), Mireia Prat (ESP) , Li Qing Chen (CHN), Caroline Afonso (FRA) , Florentyna Parker (ENG), Miriam Nagl (GER) , Liz Young (ENG) , Xin Wang (CHN) , Noora Tamminen (FIN)

76 Pavarisa Yoktuan (THA) , Rong Ji (CHN) , Ajira Nualraksa (THA) , Marianne Skarpnord (NOR) , Jaruporn Palakawong Na Ayutthaya (THA) , Steffi Kirchmayr (GER) , Ling Ling Tan (CHN) , Cuixia Chen (CHN) , Holly Aitchison (ENG) , Chang Yu Qiao (CHN)

77 Linda Wessberg (SWE) , Cai Zhu Guo (CHN) , Patricia Sanz Barrio (ESP) , Caroline Martens (NOR) , Sophie Walker (ENG) , Felicity Johnson (ENG) , So Young Jang (SKOR) , Pei-Yun Chien (TPE) , Jia Yun Li (CHN) , Pan Pan Yan (CHN) , Narisara Kerdrit (THA) , Yu Ting Shi (CHN)

78 Nontaya Srisawang (THA) , Rungthiwa Pangjan (THA) , Linda Henriksson (FIN) , Sahra Hassan (WAL) , Daniela Holmqvist (SWE) , Hong Tian (CHN) , Vikki Laing (SCO)

79 Titiya Plucksataporn (THA) , Cathryn Bristow (NZL) , Connie Chen (RSA) , Ziyi Wang (CHN) , Isabella Leung (HKG) , Klara Spilkova (CZE)

80 Alexandra Vilatte (FRA) , Su-Hyun Oh (AUS) , Becky Brewerton (WAL) , Whitney Hillier (AUS) , Nikki Garrett (AUS) , Juanjuan Tao (CHN)

81 Tanaporn Kongkiatkrai (THA) , Walailak Satarak (THA) , Cassandra Kirkland (FRA) , Jade Schaeffer (FRA) , Heather MacRae (SCO) , Danielle Montgomery (ENG)

82 Julianne Alvarez (NZL) , Ann-Kathrin Lindner (GER)
83 Kai Lin Zhu (CHN) , Daniela Prorokova (CZE)
84 Alison Whitaker (AUS)
85 Yue Xia Lu (CHN)
86 Carly Booth (SCO)

87 In Ji Bae (SKOR)

First round interviews

World Ladies Championship

Thursday 6 March 2014

Suzann Pettersen 67 (-6)

Were you satisfied with your round today?

I played a lot of good golf today and felt like I had a lot of great chances. I feel like you’ve really got to take advantage of the par fives out here. You only have some mid irons into some of them and I had one eagle, should have had two. I missed a very short eagle putt on six, so overall it was a pretty solid start and I can’t complain. I got a little bit more wind around the turn. It was a bit trickier but overall a very playable golf course.

On the other hole, you could nearly have made eagle, right?

It was only like, four feet.

Can you describe how you made the eagle on the second?

I hit driver and a little eight-iron to about ten feet.

Was the wind a major challenge?

No, not really. When we started it was nice and calm and it picked up a little bit gradually as we played. It was a very consistent as it was from one direction so it wasn’t hard to deal with. It was just one other element.

You had a few extra chances.

I felt overall that my game is getting better each day which for me personally is what I’m looking for. I also felt like I might have left a few putts out there but you can’t really complain when you shoot an easy six-under-par. You can look at some holes and say you should have had one more but I told myself yesterday that under normal conditions I should shoot seven-under-par around this course, so it was pretty close.

How have you been spending your time at the resort?

The time is flying. We’ve been doing everything. We had a couple of great dinners and a press conference photo-shoot yesterday at the Movie Town, which was quite neat to see. If I hadn’t have gone over there I wouldn’t have seen anything but the resort, so it’s nice to see something else. It’s always nice to get the tournament started: easier evenings and fewer commitments at night but at the same time, we’re here to play golf and we’re also here to make friends and be open-minded to meeting new people. I loved being here last year and it’s been a fantastic year so far.

You’ve been playing with Inbee on Tour and you guys have been chasing each other. How are you trying to give Inbee a bit more pressure?

I don’t think that we players give each other pressure. It’s more the media that’s trying to make it into a big rivalry but it’s a good rivalry. My goal this year is really just to see how good I can be. I know its good enough to be World No.1 but what defines being No.1. It’s self-esteem; it’s how you work every day. I feel like my golfing skills are good enough to be the World No.1 so for me it’s a matter of time. To be the best player in the world you’ve got to win tournaments and you’ve got to be consistent, week in, week out. For me, it’s just to try and get the season started, get on a roll and get a good rhythm.

There is a mysterious gentleman with a blue cap following you. Is he part of your team?
He’s my boyfriend! He hides behind the cameras.
Could you tell us more?

We’re both Norwegian, we’re the same age and from the same town. We met through common friends. He’s an ex-skier who used to ski when he was younger. He has a great understanding of the lifestyle we live and the sacrifices we make and really respects our hours on the golf course so it’s very helpful and great to have someone you can share what you do with.

There are not a lot of people playing golf in Norway and not that many Norwegians on Tour. How did you get ranked so highly in the world and do you want to be an ambassador of your home country?

Growing up in Norway I did all kinds of sports. I’m a very competitive girl and grew up with two older brothers so I think my competitive instincts I got from my childhood growing up. I had to fight for everything, pretty much. Why I ended up with golf? I think it’s just a sport with a lot of challenging aspects. It’s a great game and it can be the most frustrating game on the other hand. I think I’ve never looked at coming from Norway as being a disadvantage in getting to the top. I always see it as the other way. I want to prove to everyone that you can actually make it. Obviously being one of the best players in the world, together with that comes some responsibilities and I try to help grow the game around the world. Wherever we go, I would love to introduce this great game to as many kids as I can meet. It’s brought so much joy to my life and I would like to pass that on to as many kids as possible. You do take on the responsibility as a golf ambassador, but as much as we travel, it’s just great to grow women’s golf around the globe.

Can you play midnight golf in Norway?

Yes. Last summer I was up in northern Norway with a bunch of foreign journalists and we played midnight golf. I was on the course playing from 10pm to 1am and it was as light as it is outside right now. I mean, it was amazing. Daylight is no excuse in the summer time. In the winter time, however, it’s a little bit depressing.

Are you willing to share the name of your new man?

His name is Christian.

How do you feel about being defending champion this year?

It’s always great to come back to a place where you’ve won. It’s a different course this time so it’s a little bit different to the experience I had last year. I just have to forget. Being a defending champion only means that you have done well in the past, so I take that as a compliment and help that build my confidence overall.