Michele's good start to LETAS event in Spain

Michele Thomson is lying tied fifth at the end of the first day's play in the LETAS event at Lugo, Spain - the Augas Santas Ladies International Open - after shooting a one-under-par 69.

The Ellon, Aberdeenshire player, pictured, a winner on the Ladies Tartan Tour at Murcar Links a few weeks back, birdied the seventh, ninth and 18th but bogeyed the 10th and 17th.
Leading the field is 21-year-old Spanish amateur Luna Sobron with a five-under-par 65.
Luna was beaten in the 2013 final of the British women's open amateur championship at Machynys, South Wales by Georgia Hall who had a hole in one at the 18th to win by one hole.
Sobron won the European women's amateur championship in 2014.
Former Scottish women's amateur champion Alyson McKechin from Paisley, who turned pro a few weeks ago, had a 76 after running up a triple bogey 7 early in the round. She is sharing 72nd place and needs a very good second-round score if she is to survive the cut

FIRST-ROUND LEADERBOARD
par 70
65 Luna Sobron (Spa) (am)
67 Kiran Matharu (Eng), Mirei Prat (Spa)
68 Isi Gabsa (Ger)
69 Michele Thomson (Sco), Anne Van Dam (Net), Joyce Chong (Net)
SELECTED SCORE
76 Alyson McKechin (Sco) (T72)


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WEBSITE SUMMARY

 
Spanish amateur Luna Sobrón shot an opening round of 65, 5 under par, to lead by two shots from fellow Spaniard Mireia Prat and England’s Kiran Matharu in the Ribeira Sacra " Patrimonio de la Humanidad " International Ladies Open at OCA Augas Santas Balneario Golf and Resort.
Sobrón, the 2014 European Amateur Champion, played conservatively on the challenging Augas Santas layout, using her driver just twice during the round. She commented, "I only took driver on two holes, 11 and 16, so I think I played really intelligently, which talks about the difficulty of the course and if you think a little bit more you can have many different options."
“I've made 26 putts so I putted very well. I made 6 birdies and only one bogey on hole 15, so I think I am in pretty good shape and my game is there. "
The 21-year-old from MaJorca will combine her amateur schedule with LETAS this season, “My main goal this year is to try to play as many amateur events as I can but also as much LET Access events as I can to try to have the Ladies European Tour card via LETAS, so I am happy to start like this".
Mireia Prat, the winner of this event in 2013 was pleased with her opening round, 67. She commented, "I made three birdies and an eagle on the par 4 second hole, holing a 149 metre shot with my 6 iron so I am pretty happy. 
"I also made two bad tee shots, which cost me two bogeys on numbers 11 and 13, and these bad shots have made me think to change my strategy for tomorrow  on these holes because the course is playing a little bit longer than two years ago, as it is quite wet, so let's see tomorrow".
Kiran Matharu played very solidly for a bogey free round, with birdies on the 5^th, 7^th and 11^th holes. The 26-year-old from Leeds, who missed the cut in the season opener, the Open Generali de Dinard, will be looking to build on her strong start to this week's event.
Germany’s Isi Gabsa opened with a 68, 2 under par, to lie in 4^th place, with the Netherlands Anne Van Dam and Joyce Chong, and Scotland’s Michelle Thomson a further shot back at one under par.
The players enjoyed perfect playing conditions for the first round, with warm temperatures and very little wind. After tomorrow’s round there will be a cut to the top 40 professionals and ties for the final day.