Dundonald’s reputation as a place where the cream would rise to the top was confirmed with Lydia Ko and Suzanne Pettersen striking out at the Aberdeen Asset Management Ladies Scottish Open yesterday.
The World No 2 and No 7 were left at the top of the leaderboard after a pleasant first day on the Ayrshire links course where they hope to take the men’s Scottish Open in the future, and it certainly passed the test in terms of the challenge yesterday.
Despite favourable conditions the 18-year-old phenomenon from New Zealand needed a strong finish with three birdies in her last six holes to complete a four-under-par 68, tied with Pettersen, who did most of her best work with a flourish at the start of her round.
Nobody was taking the design of Kyle Phillips the architect of Kingsbarns apart although the wind and rain of practice days moved on for a pleasant if cool day, and brought out a decent crowd of estimated at around 3000.
Ko impressively didn’t have a bogey at all, having made a slight adjustment to her ball flight for expected windy conditions, and while she felt she left some chances on the course, wasn’t for complaining.
“Links courses and this one in particular are challenging enough without the wind, so I’m not missing it,” she said. “You know you’re still going to get some funky lies and bad bounces.
“I had a few but I got lucky a few times as well, and I played well at the end to get a couple of birdies in the last three holes.”
It could have been three in a row to finish and the outright lead but she slightly misjudged a nine-foot putt by on the last.
Pettersen had charged out to a furious start with four birdies in her first five holes, confirming her belief that she would feel at home here, although she was slightly thrown by bogeys at her seventh and ninth holes, the 16th and 18th.
“Just one of those things, I hit a good tee shot and a good second at 16 and I just got screwed, came up a touch short and rolled into the bunker,” said the Norwegian.
“Then I had a three-putt at 18 but two good birdies on the back nine and I was putting for birdie on just about every hole.”
As for practice going into next week, Pettersen hasn’t even considered it.
“I haven’t even given a thought about Turnberry and the British Open,” she said. “I’ll think about that when we get down on Sunday night. This is all about trying to perform here and in conditions like today you’ve got to make a score.”
France’s Celine Herbin is in third on her own after a 69, with the leading Scot surprisingly being Nairn’s Kelsey MacDonald who had a best of the year 70 to share fourth place.
The 24-year-old has missed all five cuts on the Ladies European Tour this year while working her way from a back injury.
“I was pretty blessed with the weather this morning, it was quite calm for me teeing off,” she admitted. “I kept hitting fairways, stuck it pretty close and gave myself chances.”
Kelsey, a former Scottish women’s amateur champion, is playing on an invitation from Aberdeen Asset, and is thrilled to play in her home turf.
“When there are people that have significance in your life watching, that’s great, because they don’t get to watch me play because I’m playing all over the world,” she said. “The fact they can come here and watch me play here is great.
“The injury meant I took quite a lot of time off and I’ve only played a few events this year. I’ve just been trying to get myself fit and healthy and with the way the schedule has worked, it’s been stop-start, which hasn’t favoured me because I want to keep playing.
“I’ll be going to Final Qualifying for the British Open on Monday at Irvine and there’s an opportunity here this week so a lot to play for.”
Twice-champion Catriona Matthew finished with a two-over 74 while Carly Booth continued her recent return to form with a par round of 72.
Leading scores
68 – L Ko (NZ), S Pettersen (Norway)
69 – C Herbin (Fra)
70 – K MacDonald (Sco), C Wolf (Aut),
71 – N Garcia (SA), A Boulden (Wal), L Davies (Eng), F Parker (Eng).
72 – P Sanz Barrio (Spa), C Chen (SA), C Booth (Sco), C Koch (Swe), M Reid (Eng), H Burke (Eng).
73 – H Clyburn (Eng), M Jorgensen (Den), S Bergman (SA), J Schaeffer (Fra), F In-Albon (Swi), G Nocera (Fra), M Skapnord (Nor).
Other scores included
74 – C Matthew (Sco), S Watson (Sco)
75 – K Walker (Sco)
77 – L Murray (Sco)
79 – V Laing (Sco), P Pretswell (Sco)