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Lydia Ko shot a blistering seven-under 65 in the opening round of the Scottish Women’s Open in Ayrshire.
Lydia Ko has continued her strong recent form with a blistering opening round in rough conditions at the Scottish Open of the LPGA Tour in Ayrshire.
Fresh from third place at the recent Evian Championship in France, the Kiwi golfer shot a seven-under 65 at Dundonald Links to sit one shot behind early South Korea clubhouse leader Hye Jin Choi.
In a bogey-free round, Ko made seven birdies – four in her front nine – to share second place with American Lilia Vu and French Celine Boutier.
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England Georgia Hall and South Korean Narin An are a shot further back at six-under.
Ko is aiming to do one better than last year’s event in Fife, where the Olympic bronze medalist finished second behind United States champion Ryann O’Toole.
The afternoon starters faced a heavy downpour that left water on the track, but Boutier and Ko overcame the tricky conditions to shoot 65 and join Vu in second.
Defending champion O’Toole shot 68, with current world No. 1 Jin Young Ko returning a two-under-par 70, six behind her fellow South Korean in first.
Meanwhile, Ko’s compatriot Ryan Fox got off to a solid start at the English Open in Fife, Scotland, with a four-under 68 to sit five strokes behind leader Sean Crocker, who set a course record of 63 for a one-shot lead.
On a day of remarkably low scores, Crocker recorded an eagle and eight birdies at Fairmont St Andrews to finish nine under par, a shot for a five-man group including England’s number 1719, Ben Stow.
Fox made three birdies in a flawless front nine, before a bogey on the 10th briefly blocked his progress.
He quickly got back on track with birdies on the 12th and 13th pin, before finishing with a double bogey on the 17th and an eagle on the par-five 18th to finish his round in style.
Australian Dimitrios Papadatos was one of six under 119 from the 156-man field to take advantage of the calm conditions at the Scottish venue to break par.
Zimbabwe-born Crocker, 25, is looking for his first European Tour title and admitted that a string of nine consecutive missed cuts earlier this season had forced him to “grow up”.
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Ryan Fox is five strokes behind early leader Sean Crocker at the English Open after a solid first round in Fife.
“Mentally that was probably the hardest thing I’ve been through yet,” said the 25-year-old.
“I know a lot of people have talked about the whole mental side of sport, but that was probably the darkest I’ve seen on a golf course in my entire life.
“It was my first bad experience on a golf course and I just had to grow up.
“I had to look at it and get it right: ‘Okay, you’ve been lucky enough to play good golf pretty much all your life and now you’re going to get a little taste of what this game is all about’.
“It made me aware of how hard this game is and also realized that I can do all the work and still get bad shots – there’s no point in getting mad.”
Scottish defending champion Grant Forrest is five shots off the lead after a round of 68, as is Australian Zach Murray.
– With MONKEY