VIKKI LAING SECOND SCOT IN L E T EVENT TOP 10 AT END OF DAY 1

       Heather MacRae's 67 best of opening day

 

HEATHER IS BLOOMING IN TURKEY

BELEK, TURKEY -- Dunblane's Heather MacRae found herself leading a Ladies European Tour event for the first time on day one of the Turkish Airlines Ladies Open today

The 30-year-old Gleneagles Hotel pro staff player, buoyed by memories of her last visit to National Golf Club with the LET Access Series in November, carded an opening six-under-par 67 to end the day one stroke ahead of Denmark’s Malene Jorgensen and Gwladys Nocera of France.

MacRae played in the morning avoiding the heavy afternoon showers. Jorgensen and Nocera were the best of the afternoon players, with Sweden’s Mikaela Parmlid and Klara Spilkova of the Czech Republic who played in the morning a stroke further behind.

MacRae’s 67 was her best round in 13 starts on the Ladies European Tour and she had previously led after the first round of the Mineks Ladies Classic at the same venue on the LET’s developmental circuit.

“I love the golf course. You have to be a reasonable length off the tee and straight and I did it most of the day so I’m happy,” said MacRae, a winner on LETAS last season in Sweden.

MacRae is hoping that she can make amends for missing out on earning her full LET card last season as she ended in sixth place on the LETAS order of merit, just one stroke outside the top five that automatically qualify.

“It was a bit of a heart breaker because I finished 10^th and missed my card by 40 points but the first day I played great and was six under after 12 holes and had a double. I knew I’d hit a lot of good shots here so I think that’s helped coming back,” she said.

MacRae opened with a solid putt for par on 10 and birdied four of the next five holes. She dropped her only stroke at the par-four 17^th after pulling her tee shot, but recovered by making a birdie putt of 25 feet at the par-four 18^th, playing around a lake.

A pair of birdies on the par-four third and seventh, where she holed putts of six and eight feet respectively, took her ahead of the field but she said: “Hopefully I’ll have learned from the LET Access Series event and it’s one shot at a time. Its only Thursday.”

England’s Charley Hull, 18, shot a three-under-par 70 to share sixth place with 15-year-old amateur Mathilda Cappeliez from France.

Hull, who won her maiden title at the Lalla Meryem Cup in Morocco two months ago, said: “I played pretty well and hit it quite good. The wind was switching quite a bit so it makes the golf course a bit trickier. The greens bounce on and some stop so it’s a tricky golf course but I felt pretty happy with the way I played. I made three silly little bogeys but apart from that I played quite well.”

SCROLL DOWN PAST THE SCORES

FOR QUOTES FROM LEADING PLAYERS

 

Collated Scores at the end of Round 1:

par 72

67 Heather Macrae (SCO)

68 Malene Jorgensen (DEN) , Gwladys Nocera (FRA)

69 Klara Spilkova (CZE) , Mikaela Parmlid (SWE)

70 Mathilda Cappeliez (FRA) , Charley Hull (ENG)

71 Krista Bakker (FIN) , Sahra Hassan (WAL) , Vikki Laing (SCO) , Rebecca Hudson (ENG) , Mia Piccio (PHL) , Nicole Broch Larsen (DEN)

72 Stefania Croce (ITA) , Noora Tamminen (FIN) , Florentyna Parker (ENG) , Chloe Leurquin (BEL) , Ursula Wikstrom (FIN) , Nikki Campbell (AUS)

73 Miriam Nagl (GER) , Hannah Burke (ENG) , Lauren Taylor (ENG) , Valentine Derrey (FRA) , Julia Davidsson (SWE) , Rebecca Codd (IRL) , Stacy Lee Bregman (RSA) , Ann-Kathrin Lindner (GER) , Eleanor Givens (ENG)

74 Mireia Prat (ESP) , Camilla Lennarth (SWE) , Holly Clyburn (ENG) , Carmen Alonso (ESP) , Louise Larsson (SWE) , Alexandra Vilatte (FRA) , Trish Johnson (ENG) , Isabelle Boineau (FRA) , Stephanie Na (AUS) , Kim Williams (RSA) , Christine Wolf (AUT) , Jade Schaeffer (FRA) , Sally Watson (SCO) , Maria Balikoeva (RUS)

75 Bree Arthur (AUS) , Felicity Johnson (ENG) , Sophie Walker (ENG) , Lee-Anne Pace (RSA)

76 Sophie Giquel-Bettan (FRA) , Nina Holleder (GER) , Veronica Zorzi (ITA) , Elisabetta Bertini (ITA) , Julie Greciet (FRA) , Titiya Plucksataporn (THA) , Fabienne In-Albon (SUI) , Charlotte Thompson (ENG) , Kylie Walker (SCO) , Beth Allen (USA) , Nina Pegova (RUS) , Pamela Feggans (SCO) , Jia Yun Li (CHN) , Diana Luna (ITA) , Marion Ricordeau (FRA) , Pamela Pretswell (SCO) , Rebecca Sorensen (SWE) , Margherita Rigon (ITA) , Amy Boulden (WAL) , Josephine Janson (SWE)

77 Linda Wessberg (SWE) , Liz Young (ENG) , Kelsey MacDonald (SCO) , Elina Nummenpaa (FIN) , Tania Elosegui (ESP) , Laurette Maritz (RSA) , Maggie Yuan (AUS) , Caroline Afonso (FRA) , Cassandra Kirkland (FRA) , Sharmila Nicollet (IND) , Sophie Sandolo (ITA) , Whitney Hillier (AUS)

78 Marianne Skarpnord (NOR) , Anne-Lise Caudal (FRA) , Mallory Fraiche (USA) , Henni Zuel (ENG) , Lucie Andre (FRA)

79 Bonita Bredenhann (NAM) , Nobuhle Dlamini (SWZ) , Lydia Hall (WAL) , Emily Taylor (ENG) , Karolin Lampert (GER) , Isabell Gabsa (GER) , Minea Blomqvist (FIN) , Viva Schlasberg (SWE) , Melanie Maetzler (SUI) , Becky Brewerton (WAL)

80 Leigh Whittaker (GER), Ariane Provot (FRA) , Sophie Gustafson (SWE), Nina Muehl (AUT) , Celine Herbin (FRA), Anais Maggetti (SUI) , Holly Aitchison (ENG) , Adriana Brent (AUS) , Steffi Kirchmayr (GER) , Nontaya Srisawang (THA) , Virginia Espejo (ESP)

81 Jessica Ji (SKOR) , Ainil Bakar (MYS) , Hannah Ralph (ENG) , Damla Bilgic (TUR) , Carly Booth (SCO) , Melissa Reid (ENG) , Alison Whitaker (AUS) , Victoria Lovelady (BRA) , Maria Salinas (PER)

82 Nicole Garcia (RSA), Laura Davies (ENG) , Laura Jansone (LVA), Patricia Sanz Barrio (ESP) , Sena Ersoy (TUR) , Stefania Avanzo (ITA) , Julie Tvede (DEN)

84 Emma Cabrera-bello (ESP) , Maha Haddioui (MAR)

86 Sezgi Kilic (TUR) , Georgina Simpson (ENG) , Lucy Williams (ENG)

88 Begum Yilmaz (TUR)

Player Quick Quotes

Heather MacRae

I love the golf course. I played it in the LETAS event last year and it’s tough. You have to be a reasonable length off the tee and straight and I did it most of the day so I’m happy.

It was a bit of a heart breaker because I finished 10^th and missed my card by 40 points but the first day I played great and was six under after 12 holes and had a double. I knew I’d hit a lot of good shots here so I think that’s helped coming back.

The weather was okay. There was a little bit of rain but it wasn’t too bad and it was kind of refreshing.

I think it’s my lowest round as a professional but I missed a couple of eight footers as well. It was a nice day when things clicked and when they didn’t I made up for it.

Birdies and bogeys:

I started on 10, hit it to 12 feet on 11 and then on 12 I hit drive, 8-iron and had a good distance left and holed it. On 14 I hit a good drive left and 3-wood to about 20 feet so I had a good eagle chance.

On 15 I hit 5-iron, wedge to six feet. On 17 I pulled my tee shot a little bit and didn’t hit a great shot in. I was short right and didn’t hit a good chip.

18: Driver, 8-iron and holed a 25 footer.

At the third I hit my shot in to about six feet and on seven I hit it to 8 feet as well so I was hitting it close. 18 was the longest putt I made.

On seven, I hit it to 8 feet.

Hopefully I’ll have learned from the Access event and it’s one shot at a time. Its only Thursday.

I was playing a Scottish PGA event last week and I’ve been practising hard so it has to come out some time.

Gwladys Nocera

I’m feeling good, I’m playing good. I stayed home and enjoyed spending time with my friends and leading a normal life. I practised a lot, I worked out a lot.

This course is tricky and you have to be patient: I think that’s key.

I missed two drives and I was behind trees. This course is really tricky and with the rain today it made it even harder.

On 17 I hit a good drive on the left and my 5-iron in and on 18 I didn’t expect to make the putt but it was a bit slopy putt and I made it.

Malene Jorgensen

I hit the ball very well and my approaches were close to the pin which made it easy to make par and had a lot of birdie chances. 

Michaela Parmlid

On 15, I holed the third shot with a 52 degree wedge. I was 97 yards from the flag, so that really helped.

I was playing really well on the front nine and even on the back; I just made one little mistake where the ball had a bad lie but other than that, I had a lot of chances so it could have been another four or five under.

I missed a couple of greens but I made good up and downs on eight and nine as well as a sand save on hole one. I’ve been playing really solid. I was playing in the centre of the green or close to the pin.

I’ve been doing some other stuff so it’s fun to come out and play some really good golf. It’s almost surprising to me. I haven’t competed since Dubai and haven’t really played 18 holes that much so it was fun. I’ve been doing a lot of coaching and psychology stuff.

It has helped me a lot with my golf. It’s a lot easier now. It’s just how my mind works and I’m so interested in it because I know that’s what matters the most out here. It’s also good in all kinds of business. As much experience as we have, performing under pressure, I think it’s pretty cool to take advantage of that and teach others.

Klara Spilkova

It was a very good day today. I hit some very good shots and made a few long putts, that’s why I had five birdies and one bogey.

I will try to do my best and I have some very big exams in school this year so it will be school and golf together but it’s going to be good and I hope I can do everything very good.

I’m feeling very good. I went to Switzerland for the LET Access Series last week and played well, hit some good shots so I feel great.

Charley Hull

I played pretty well and hit it quite good. The wind was switching quite a bit so it makes the golf course a bit trickier.

The greens bounce on and some stop so it’s a tricky golf course but I felt pretty happy with the way I played. I made three silly little bogeys but apart from that I played quite well.

Some of the branches have been trimmed down but I don’t think that will come into play to be honest because the sticks at the bottom are still there so if you hit it in there you will still be behind a tree. It looks visually a bit wider on a couple of holes but I think it’s pretty good. It’s a bit damper for some people but I like it when it’s playing firm, because I can stop the ball on the greens.

The wind kept switching and I don’t know if it’s as windy now but hopefully it will stay this afternoon and I think it will be pretty fair.

I hit it well and I’m pretty happy with how I played. I holed a few putts but missed a few to open with. I could have been more under but it’s a pretty steady first round. I’m looking forward to the rest of the week.

I birdied the last and I’m pretty happy about that. I made a few bogeys but then I made a few birdies to end with. It’s a pretty decent round.