The first round of the Aramco China Championship concluded on Thursday morning with Ireland’s Anna Foster and Lauren Walsh sitting at the wrong side of the leaderboard after a lackluster showing from the pair around Mission Hills Golf Club.
Prime weather conditions opened the door for low scores as round one leader Moa Folke proved as the Swede posted a six-under-par 67 but unfortunately for Foster and Walsh, they could not take advantage.
Foster began her day with a trio of pars before making her first birdie of the day on the par-4 fourth. The 24-year-old followed it up with a bogey on the fifth but did well to take the turn at one-under after a textbook birdie on the par-3 eighth.
A bogey start to the back nine was not what Foster had in mind but the Elm Park member again took advantage of her current iron form, to stick the green on the par-3 13th to add another birdie to her scorecard.
Deserving an under-par finish to her first round, a couple of errors on the par-5 16th saw Foster make bogey to post an even-par 72 to sit T57 heading into the second round.
It was an uncharacteristic poor start for Carton House’s Lauren Walsh who has enjoyed a strong year so far this season as she sits 10th in the Order of Merit standings. The 25-year-old began her round with three-bogeys on the first four holes.
Leaving herself with a mountain to climb to get back under par, Walsh could only do so much. Walsh shown some of her flying season form on the back nine, making three birdies but ultimately succumbed to two more bogeys to post a two-over-par 75 and sit T82 heading into round two.
Leading the way is Sweden’s Moa Folke who posted a bogey free round of 67 which included an eagle on the par-5 18th, followed by Thailand’s Aunchisa Utama, England’s Alice Hewson and Germany’s Laura Fuenfstueck who all sit at five-under.
Norway’s Dorthea Forbrigd made a hole in one at the par-3 eighth which helped her post a four-under-par 69 to sit in a share of fifth place, along with 10 other golfers.
Leaderboard.
