Evian Championship: Last lady pro Major tournament of 2015
Lexi Thompson shares lead with Lee on 66
NEWS RELEASE FROM LADIES EUROPEAN TOUR
By BETHAN CUTLER, LET Media Manager
Lexi
Thompson, pictured above, of the United States and Mi Hyang Lee of South Korea fired a matching pair
of five under par 66s to share the lead on day one of the Evian Championship,
the final Major of 2015.
Thompson
made a spectacular start, picking up five shots in four
holes from the 12th, including an eagle on the par-5 13th.
Lee,
the winner of the 2014 New Zealand Women’s Open, joined her with seven birdies
against two bogeys on the Evian Resort Golf Course in Haute Savoie, France.
The
pair are one stroke clear of Eun-Hee Ji of South Korea, Thailand’s Pornanong
Phatlum and Gerina Piller of the United States.
A stroke further back on three
under par 68 are last week’s Helsingborg Open champion Nicole Broch Larsen from
Denmark, the recent ISPS HANDA Ladies European Masters winner Beth Allen from
the USA, Australian Minjee Lee, China’s Shanshan Feng and South Korean Sei
Young Kim.
Thompson
finished second at the 2010 Evian Masters as a 15-year-old amateur and was
third in 2013, so has good memories of the location.
The
2014 Kraft Nabisco Champion, due to make her second Solheim Cup appearance next
week in Germany, commented: “I'm definitely pretty happy with my first round. I
had a good stretch on my first nine on the back nine there and made a few
birdies and an eagle, so helped out with the scorecard. But, yeah, overall very
exciting ride.”
Broch
Larsen, who is playing in the Evian Championship for the first time, began her
second Major with a birdie on the second and she made the turn at three under
after a rolling in a putt of 11 metres for eagle on the par-5 ninth. Although
she made bogey on hole-10, she recovered by making a short one metre putt for
birdie on the par-3 16th.
“I played very well today, very solid, and when I missed the green I made some great up and downs,”
said Broch Larsen. “Actually I missed a few short ones for birdies but minus
three is a nice start. I hit a good drive, 5 wood to 11 metres and made that
one.”
Allen, who is also
making her Evian debut, started from the 10th hole and bogeyed the
12th before picking up birdies on 13, 16 and 17 on the back nine.
She bogeyed the first, but made two more birdies on six and nine.
Sweden’s
Caroline Hedwall is the top ranked European Solheim Cup team member after she
shot a solid two under par 69 to sit in a share of 12th place.
She
said: “I struggled a little bit last week in Sweden on the greens, and I felt
like I made a couple more putts today. It just feels good to see a couple roll
in. Hopefully there can be some more in the coming days. But I'm happy with the
red number today. I played really well from tee to green, but at least I made
three-putts today. So I'm happy with that. I had a lot of good looks, but last
week I didn't make a single putt, so today I made three, so that's going
forward.”
Fellow Solheim Cup
player Charley Hull fired an opening one under par 70 and she said: “I’m happy.
I felt like I played well. I had nothing that went in today apart from my eagle
putt on nine, so I was a bit frustrated because I could have birdied the last
three holes and they all lipped out.”
ALL THE FIRST-ROUND SCORES
par 71
ALL THE FIRST-ROUND SCORES
par 71
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