The 25-year-old carded four birdies and an eagle to sit in a share of third place alongside fellow Sydneysider Daniel Gale and South Korean Sanghee Lee, one stroke behind first-round leaders Declan O’Donovan and Brady Watt.
Kyriacou, who is preparing to embark on her fifth campaign on the LPGA Tour, is making her first start of the season and showed no signs of rust after teeing it up in competition for the first time since November.
“I’m pretty happy, to be honest,” she said. “I wasn’t expecting much going into this week. I’ve been going through a few swing changes this off-season, so I’m just coming out and seeing how it goes in competition mode.
“I’d say there’s no expectations, but I also want to play well in front of the home crowd. It kind of worked out better than I expected.”
Her charge up the leaderboard was aided by an eagle at the par-4 16th, when she rolled in from 10 feet after driving the green.
“It’s great [to make eagle] at any point in the tournament, but early on it kind of sets the bar. Hopefully more of the same [tomorrow]. I have certain goals for this week, none of them really relate to the score, so I’m just trying to nail those.”
Caitlin Peirce and co-leader Brady Watt both hit holes in one on the opening day of Webex Players Series Sydney. (PHOTO: Brett Costello / PGA of Australia)
Watt carded seven birdies and a hole-in-one in his round of 66 as he joined O’Donovan at the top of the leaderboard. The West Australian was 5-under after nine holes, having started his round from the 10th, with his ace coming at the par-3 17th, and he recovered from a double at the third with three birdies to reach 6-under.
“It was an interesting morning, for sure. I had an albatross a month ago and it seems when I have a nice shot, it goes in, which is great,” Watt said.
“I actually didn’t see it land. I hit it exactly how I wanted, then just put the club in the bag and walked off. I got the laser out, saw the pitch mark and thought it was long, but it was in!”
Kyriacou is leading the charge to become just the fourth female in history to win a Webex Players Series event, bidding to join Hannah Green, Sarah Jane Smith and Min-a Yoon on the roll of honour.
South Australian Caitlin Peirce also recorded the first ace of her career, at the par-3 second hole, and sits in a share of sixth place alongside five others on 4-under par.
Entry to Webex Players Series Sydney is free for spectators, with coverage from the final two rounds available on Kayo Sports and Foxtel.
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