Reid, Morgan, Garcia share lead at Shanghai

LADIES EUROPEAN TOUR NEWS RELEASE

From Bethan Cutler, LET Media Manager

Shanghai, China: Britons Melissa Reid and Becky Morgan and South African Nicole Garcia share the first-round lead after shooting opening rounds of four-under-par 68 in warm and breezy conditions for the Buick Championship at Shanghai Qizhong Garden Golf Club in China today.

Last year’s Falkirk-based  Ladies European Masters winner Beth Allen is in a group a stroke back along with England’s Liz Young, South African Stacy Lee Bregman, South Korean Na Yeon Choi, Sweden’s Lina Boqvist, Russian Maria Verchenova, Chinese professional Tao Li Yang and a 15-year-old amateur called Yifan Ji.

Defending champion Shanshan Feng of China opened with a one-under-par 71.

Reid played without a practise round and fired three straight birdies from the 12^th. She bogeyed 16 and birdied 18 before carding three more birdies against two bogeys on the front nine. “I actually felt a little bit uncomfortable out there, it was weird, but I tried to play every shot quite clear and I’m very happy with my 68,” said the 28-year-old from Derbyshire, who has earned five titles on the LET.

“I think I’m a little bit jet lagged since I only got here yesterday but my goal today was to have clarity on every single shot and I felt like I did that quite well. I backed off a couple of shots, which was good and got the putter going. I missed a couple of short putts coming in but overall I’m satisfied.”

Morgan had a steady front nine of one over but then fired five birdies on the back nine.

 “I hit a lot of good shots but I did hole some good putts on the back,” said the 41-year-old, 16-year LET member, who was born in Abergavenny, Wales.

“Hole 10 was playing really long for me and I holed a 35 footer on 10, then 11 from 20 feet and on the par fives I hit it close: tap-in on one of them and six feet on the other. 

"Hole 17 I birdied and I had a good chance on 16 that I missed from eight feet, so it was a solid back nine. I think I missed one green, so it was good.”

Third year LET player Garcia, who claimed her maiden professional title last year at the South African Sunshine Tour’s Chase to Investec Cup at Glendower, was delighted with her first sub-par round since the Xiamen International Ladies Open in China in October.

“I haven’t shot under par for a long time so I’m really happy,” said the 25-year-old from Benoni, Gauteng, who recently changed to a claw grip with her putter. 

“I started well and got a bit of momentum. I really like the course and it suits me. The greens are fantastic. I haven’t been putting well lately but today it was better and I was at least starting it on line. 

"I think on these greens, if you hit it on line, it’s going to go in. I’ve been working really hard on my putting and it’s starting to get better only now. I had 29 putts today.

“I wasn’t keen to go to the claw because I always thought that’s for people that struggle, but I was struggling! I’ve just started to get confidence with it, so hopefully it sticks. I started using it about a month ago so it’s really neat. I struggled with the pace in Morocco so when I got here all I did was pace putts, which I think really helped.”

SCOREBOARD
par 72

T1			Nicole GARCIA		11:51*	-4	68		-	-	68
[+]	T1			Melissa REID		12:13	-4	68		-	-	68
[+]	T1			Becky MORGAN		12:35*	-4	68		-	-	68
[+]	T4			Tao Li YANG		11:40	-3	69		-	-	69
[+]	T4			Beth ALLEN		12:13	-3	69		-	-	69
[+]	T4			Yifan JI (AM)		7:15	-3	69		-	-	69
[+]	T4			Liz YOUNG		7:59*	-3	69		-	-	69
[+]	T4			Na Yeon CHOI		7:59	-3	69		-	-	69
[+]	T4			Lina BOQVIST		8:10	-3	69		-	-	69
[+]	T4			Stacy Lee BREGMAN		8:21*	-3	69		-	-	69
[+]	T4			Maria VERCHENOVA		8:21	-3	69		-	-	69
[+]	T12			Nanna Koerstz MADSEN		12:35*	-2	70		-	-	70
[+]	T12			Georgia HALL		12:46	-2	70		-	-	70
[+]	T12			Isabelle BOINEAU		7:48*	-2	70		-	-	70
[+]	T15			Xi Yu LIN		12:13	-1	71		-	-	71
[+]	T15			Marianne SKARPNORD		12:35	-1	71		-	-	71
[+]	T15			Thanuttra BOONRAKSASAT		13:08*	-1	71		-	-	71
[+]	T15			Noora TAMMINEN		7:48	-1	71		-	-	71
[+]	T15			Shanshan FENG		7:59	-1	71		-	-	71
[+]	T20			Pei-Lin YU		11:40*	E	72		-	-	72
[+]	T20			Tiranan YOOPAN		11:51	E	72		-	-	72
[+]	T20			Camilla LENNARTH		12:24	E	72		-	-	72
[+]	T20			Florentyna PARKER		12:35	E	72		-	-	72
[+]	T20			Ye Seul LEE		13:08	E	72		-	-	72
[+]	T20			Victoria LOVELADY		7:15	E	72		-	-	72
[+]	T20			Eleanor GIVENS		7:26*	E	72		-	-	72
[+]	T20			Wannasiri SIRISAMPANT		7:37	E	72		-	-	72
[+]	T20			Hyeon Seo KANG		7:48*	E	72		-	-	72
[+]	T20			Rebecca ARTIS		7:59*	E	72		-	-	72
[+]	T20			Chloe LEURQUIN		8:10*	E	72		-	-	72
[+]	T31			So-Young JANG		12:02	+1	73		-	-	73
[+]	T31			Amy BOULDEN		12:13*	+1	73		-	-	73
[+]	T31			Nicole BROCH LARSEN		12:24	+1	73		-	-	73
[+]	T31			Carly BOOTH		12:57	+1	73		-	-	73
[+]	T31			Qi TIAN (AM)		7:15*	+1	73		-	-	73
[+]	T31			Gwladys NOCERA		7:59	+1	73		-	-	73
[+]	T31			Kusuma MEECHAI		8:21*	+1	73		-	-	73
[+]	T31			Caroline MARTENS		8:32	+1	73		-	-	73
[+]	T39			Aretha PAN		11:40*	+2	74		-	-	74
[+]	T39			Ainil BAKAR		11:51	+2	74		-	-	74
[+]	T39			Trish JOHNSON		12:13*	+2	74		-	-	74
[+]	T39			Jia Yun LI		12:35*	+2	74		-	-	74
[+]	T39			Yuting SHI		12:35	+2	74		-	-	74
[+]	T39			Supamas SANGCHAN		12:46*	+2	74		-	-	74
[+]	T39			Marta SANZ BARRIO		12:46*	+2	74		-	-	74
[+]	T39			Diana LUNA		12:46	+2	74		-	-	74
[+]	T39			Narisara KERDRIT		12:57	+2	74		-	-	74
[+]	T39			Janya MORRAKOTPHAN		7:15	+2	74		-	-	74
[+]	T39			Jade SCHAEFFER		7:26*	+2	74		-	-	74
[+]	T39			Yan-Hong PAN		7:37*	+2	74		-	-	74
[+]	T39			Stacey KEATING		7:37*	+2	74		-	-	74
[+]	T39			Malene JORGENSEN		7:37	+2	74		-	-	74
[+]	T39			Wei Wei ZHANG		7:59*	+2	74		-	-	74
[+]	T39			Valentine DERREY		8:10*	+2	74		-	-	74
[+]	T39			Connie CHEN		8:10	+2	74		-	-	74
[+]	T39			Jienalin ZHANG		8:21*	+2	74		-	-	74
[+]	T39			Aditi ASHOK		8:43*	+2	74		-	-	74
[+]	T39			Ruixin LIU (AM)		8:43	+2	74		-	-	74
[+]	T39			Ploychompoo WIRAIRUNGRUENG		8:43	+2	74		-	-	74
Projected Cut +2
[+]	T60			Ruqing GUAN (AM)		11:40	+3	75		-	-	75
[+]	T60			Meng-Chu CHEN		12:02*	+3	75		-	-	75
[+]	T60			Klara SPILKOVA		12:02	+3	75		-	-	75
[+]	T60			Kylie WALKER		12:24*	+3	75		-	-	75
[+]	T60			Isabella RAMSAY		12:57*	+3	75		-	-	75
[+]	T60			Hsuan-Ping CHANG		13:08	+3	75		-	-	75
[+]	T60			Alexandra VILATTE		7:15*	+3	75		-	-	75
[+]	T60			Hannah BURKE		7:48*	+3	75		-	-	75
[+]	T60			Saraporn CHAMCHOI		7:48	+3	75		-	-	75
[+]	T60			Hye In YEOM		8:10	+3	75		-	-	75
[+]	T60			Justine DREHER		8:21	+3	75		-	-	75
[+]	T60			Yeon Mi CHOI		8:43*	+3	75		-	-	75
[+]	T72			Wenqi ZHU (AM)		11:40	+4	76		-	-	76
[+]	T72			Punpaka PHUNTUMABAMRUNG		11:51*	+4	76		-	-	76
[+]	T72			Ursula WIKSTROM		12:02*	+4	76		-	-	76
[+]	T72			Sally WATSON		12:02*	+4	76		-	-	76
[+]	T72			Pamela PRETSWELL		12:02	+4	76		-	-	76
[+]	T72			Tzu-Chi LIN		12:13*	+4	76		-	-	76
[+]	T72			Ziqi YE		12:24*	+4	76		-	-	76
[+]	T72			Hsin Ning YEH		13:08*	+4	76		-	-	76
[+]	T72			Ajira NUALRAKSA		7:26*	+4	76		-	-	76
[+]	T72			Panpan YAN		8:10*	+4	76		-	-	76
[+]	T72			Titiya PLUCKSATAPORN		8:32	+4	76		-	-	76
[+]	T83			Lucie ANDRE		11:51	+5	77		-	-	77
[+]	T83			Yu Yang Zhang		12:46	+5	77		-	-	77
[+]	T83			Yiyi LIU (AM)		12:57*	+5	77		-	-	77
[+]	T83			Ling Ling TAN		13:08	+5	77		-	-	77
[+]	T83			Michelle KOH		8:21	+5	77		-	-	77
[+]	T83			Dan LI		8:32*	+5	77		-	-	77
[+]	T83			Yan LIU (AM)		8:43*	+5	77		-	-	77
[+]	T90			Zi LI		12:57*	+6	78		-	-	78
[+]	T90			Wenbo LIU (AM)		12:57	+6	78		-	-	78
[+]	T90			Anne-Lise CAUDAL		7:48	+6	78		-	-	78
[+]	T90			Liqing CHEN		8:32	+6	78		-	-	78
[+]	T90			Ying YU		8:43	+6	78		-	-	78
[+]	T95			Yu LIU		12:24	+7	79		-	-	79
[+]	T95			Szu-Han CHEN		13:08*	+7	79		-	-	79
[+]	T95			Bomi SUH		7:37*	+7	79		-	-	79
[+]	T95			Pimpadsorn SANGKAGARO		7:37	+7	79		-	-	79
[+]	99			Ai-Chen KUO		7:26	+8	80		-	-	80
[+]	T100			Shan PAN (AM)		11:40*	+9	81		-	-	81
[+]	T100			Rebecca HUDSON		7:26	+9	81		-	-	81
[+]	T102			Christine WOLF		7:26	+10	82		-	-	82
[+]	T102			Cuixia CHEN		8:32*	+10	82		-	-	82
[+]	T104			Panuma VITAYAKONKOMOL		12:46*	+11	83		-	-	83
[+]	T104			Fabienne IN-ALBON		8:32*	+11	83		-	-	83
-				Emily Kristine PEDERSEN		W/D	E			-	-
-				Huei Ju SHIH		W/D	E

Full scores: http://ladieseuropeantour.com/leaderboard/