CARLY BOOTH SHARING FIFTH PLACE AFTER

 

ROUND ONE OF CANBERRA CLASSIC

 

Canberra, Australia - March 1, 2019: American Amelia Lewis is the first round leader at the ActewAGL Canberra Classic after a flawless opening round on Friday.

 The 28-year-old from Jacksonville, Florida, carded a six-under 65 at Royal Canberra to take a one-shot lead over Sweden’s Caroline Hedwall, Finland’s Noora Komulainen and Manon de Roey from Belgium.

France’s Celine Herbin carded a 67 to share fifth alongside Sarah Schober from Austria, Scotland’s Carly Booth, Katja Pogacar of Slovenia and Meghan MacLaren from England.

West Australian Hannah Green is a shot further back at three-under in a group of 10 players alongside rookie Esther Henseleit, Anne Van Dam, Madelene Sagstrom, Yan Liu, Noemi Jimenez Martin, Linnea Strom, Camille Chevalier, Christine Wolf and Ingrid Gutierrez Nunez.

Lewis found her rhythm after making a pair of birdies on the eighth and ninth holes. She picked up another birdie at the 12^th and then made three in a row from the 14^th.

She said: “I started off slowly and missed some putts, but hit some close and eventually made some birdies. Conditions were perfect with not a lot of wind.

“I almost holed my second shot on 16 and I thought it was going in, so I hit a nine-iron to two feet and that was my third birdie in a row. I was kinda feeling it and trying to get a few more coming in. I think the back nine is easier. It’s a little bit more wide open and I really like how the greens roll on the back nine.”

She said that she was playing Anne Van Dam for ice cream and the player with the highest score had to pay. “She was probably very confident when she said that. We normally play for dinner.”

Lewis took a few days off to see the sites of Sydney earlier in the week, whereas Komulainen took the day off on Thursday.

The Finnish Olympian said: “Yesterday I did something I’ve never done before, I had a day off, one day before the tournament, because I felt really tired. I talked with my coach and he said I didn’t need to practise and could take some rest. We went to see some koalas. This morning I felt so calm and relaxed and full of energy.”

The 28-year-old from Tampere made seven birdies in a solid 66, but dropped a shot on the short 17^th after twice hitting out of the same bunker.

Last year’s Lacoste Ladies Open de France champion Hedwall made four birdies on the front nine, but dropped shots at 10 and 14 before rallying with three birdies in her last four holes. De Roey had a bogey-free round containing five birdies.

MacLaren, who will defend the Women’s NSW Open at nearby Queanbeyan Golf Club next week, enjoys playing in Australia and said: “It was really solid today and I don’t think I had any bogeys, so whenever that happens, you know you’re not going to be too far away. I think I only missed one green.”

Booth is also in the mix and said: “It was just patience today. I played pretty solid from the first hole until I finished. I got a really good eagle on the par-5 15^th and had three birdies and a bogey, so I’m hoping for more of the same over the next couple of days.

“My only goal this week is to hit fairways and greens and I didn’t really hit many on the first few holes but I was just off the green. I wasn’t really connecting with my driver but it wasn’t going too far off line so I was still in play. When I needed to scramble I scrambled well so it was all quite good.”

Pogacar, who could become the first winner from Slovenia this weekend, is playing at Royal Canberra for the first time and commented: “I love this course, especially the kangaroos. The greens are rolling so good and it feels good to be back on the bent grass. I made a lot of up and downs and saved some shots. On the back nine, I had some solid par threes and I’ve been working on that a lot over the last few weeks. The short putts rolled in and I hit a lot of shots close to the pin and made the most of those opportunities.”

Green, who was the runner-up at last week’s Pacific Bay Resort Australian Ladies Classic in Bonville, birdied her first two holes but double bogeyed the 13^th to get back to level par. She then birdied the 15^th, 18^th and first holes but dropped a shot at the fourth, before picking up another shot on her last hole.

Explaining how she made her double bogey, she said: “There are two par fours next to each other and there’s a big hill left, so I hit it down there. It was on a good lie but I mis-clubbed myself and then skinned one out of the bunker and just couldn’t make up and down, so it was a rough start to have two birdies and then a double, but I’m happy with how I played for the rest of the round and I managed to finish under par.”

The reigning champion Jiyai Shin, who is looking for a hat-trick at Royal Canberra, opened with a two-under-par 70 to lie four shots from the lead and is well within striking distance heading into the weekend.

 SCOREBOARD

par 72

1 Amelia Lewis USA 65 -6 F
2 Caroline Hedwall SWE 66 -5 F
2 Noora Komulainen FIN 66 -5 F
2 Manon De Roey BEL 66 -5 F
5 Celine Herbin FRA 67 -4 F
5 Sarah Schober AUT 67 -4 F
5 Carly Booth SCO 67 -4 F
5 Katja Pogacar SLO 67 -4 F
5 Meghan Maclaren ENG 67 -4 F
10 Esther Henseleit GER 68 -3 F
10 Christine Wolf AUT 68 -3 F
10 Anne Van Dam NED 68 -3 F
10 Hannah Green AUS 68 -3 F
10 Madelene Sagstrom SWE 68 -3 F
10 Yan Liu CHN 68 -3 F
10 Noemi Jimenez Martin ESP 68 -3 F
10 Linnea Strom SWE 68 -3 F
10 Camille Chevalier FRA 68 -3 F
10 Ingrid Gutierrez Nunez MEX 68 -3 F
10 Hanee Song NZL 68 -3 F
21 Kylie Henry SCO 69 -2 F
21 Jiyai Shin SKOR 69 -2 F
21 Daniela Holmqvist SWE 69 -2 F
21 Leona Maguire IRL 69 -2 F
21 Tamie Durdin AUS 69 -2 F
21 Emily Kristine Pedersen DEN 69 -2 F
21 Amy Walsh AUS 69 -2 F
21 Mireia Prat ESP 69 -2 F
29 Ursula Wikstrom FIN 70 -1 F
29 Karolin Lampert GER 70 -1 F
29 Agathe Sauzon FRA 70 -1 F
29 Silvia Banon ESP 70 -1 F
29 Elia Folch ESP 70 -1 F
29 Sarah Nilsson SWE 70 -1 F
29 Celina Yuan AUS 70 -1 F
29 Tahnia Ravnjak AUS 70 -1 F
29 Sanna Nuutinen FIN 70 -1 F
29 Diksha Dagar IND 70 -1 F
39 Sarah Kemp AUS 71 Par F
39 Kanyalak Preedasuttijit THA 71 Par F
39 Laura Davies ENG 71 Par F
39 Breanna Gill AUS 71 Par F
39 Cajsa Persson SWE 71 Par F
39 Marianne Skarpnord NOR 71 Par F
39 Grace Kim AUS Am 71 Par F
39 Cassie Porter AUS Am 71 Par F
39 Becky Morgan WAL 71 Par F
39 Felicity Johnson ENG 71 Par F
39 Lejan Lewthwaite RSA 71 Par F
39 Emie Peronnin FRA 71 Par F
39 Michele Thomson SCO 71 Par F
39 Becky Brewerton WAL 71 Par F
39 Lina Boqvist SWE 71 Par F
39 Karen Pearce AUS 71 Par F
55 Sian Evans ENG 72 +1 F
55 Eleanor Givens ENG 72 +1 F
55 Rebecca Artis AUS 72 +1 F
55 Laura Fuenfstueck GER 72 +1 F
55 Carmen Alonso ESP 72 +1 F
55 Jenna Hunter NZL 72 +1 F
55 Elise Bradley USA 72 +1 F
55 Gabriella Cowley ENG 72 +1 F
55 Soo Jin Lee AUS 72 +1 F
55 Manon Molle FRA 72 +1 F
55 Gemma Dryburgh SCO 72 +1 F
55 Lynn Carlsson SWE 72 +1 F
55 Vani Kapoor IND 72 +1 F
68 Kerri Bong SKOR Am 73 +2 F
68 Lauren Taylor ENG 73 +2 F
68 Beth Allen USA 73 +2 F
68 Paige Stubbs AUS 73 +2 F
68 Kristalle Blum AUS 73 +2 F
68 Maha Haddioui MAR 73 +2 F
68 Emma Nilsson SWE 73 +2 F
68 Annabel Dimmock ENG 73 +2 F
68 Johanna Gustavsson SWE 73 +2 F
68 Valdis Thora Jonsdottir ISL 73 +2 F
68 Amandeep Drall IND 73 +2 F
68 Cloe Frankish ENG 73 +2 F
68 Nina Pegova RUS 73 +2 F
81 Chloe Leurquin BEL 74 +3 F
81 Melanie Maetzler SUI 74 +3 F
81 Julia Engstrom SWE 74 +3 F
81 Camilla Lennarth SWE 74 +3 F
81 Hannah Burke ENG 74 +3 F
81 Katelyn Must AUS 74 +3 F
81 Lydia Hall WAL 74 +3 F
81 Tonje Daffinrud NOR 74 +3 F
81 Sock Hwee Koh SIN 74 +3 F
81 Stephanie Kyriacou AUS Am 74 +3 F
81 Isabelle Boineau FRA 74 +3 F
81 Patricia Sanz Barrio ESP 74 +3 F
81 Onkanok Soisuwan THA 74 +3 F
94 Doey Choi AUS Am 75 +4 F
94 Stephanie Na AUS 75 +4 F
94 Fanny Cnops BEL 75 +4 F
94 Anna Lesher USA 75 +4 F
94 Karoline Lund NOR 75 +4 F
94 Ines Lescudier FRA 75 +4 F
94 Stacy Lee Bregman RSA 75 +4 F
94 Chizuru Ueda AUS 75 +4 F
94 Valentine Derrey FRA 75 +4 F
94 Chantelle Cassidy NZL 75 +4 F
94 Brooke Baker USA 75 +4 F
105 Isabelle Hawes AUS Am 76 +5 F
105 Holly Clyburn ENG 76 +5 F
105 Phillis Meti NZL 76 +5 F
105 Alexis Belton USA 76 +5 F
105 Robyn Doig CAN 76 +5 F
105 Miki Nishiyama JPN 76 +5 F
105 Celine Borge NOR 76 +5 F
105 Kelsey Macdonald SCO 76 +5 F
105 Manon Gidali FRA 76 +5 F
105 Tvesa Malik IND 76 +5 F
115 Whitney Hillier AUS 77 +6 F
115 Kayla Jones USA 77 +6 F
115 Rachel Jones USA 77 +6 F
115 Munchin Keh NZL 77 +6 F
115 Justine Dreher FRA 77 +6 F
115 Ana Menendez MEX 77 +6 F
115 Astrid Vayson De Pradenne FRA 77 +6 F
115 Astha Madan IND 77 +6 F
115 Filippa Moerk SWE 77 +6 F
115 Montana Strauss AUS 77 +6 F
125 Florentyna Parker ENG 78 +7 F
125 Viva Schlasberg SWE 78 +7 F
125 Wanasa Zhou AUS 78 +7 F
125 Charlotte Thompson ENG 78 +7 F
125 Elizabeth Elmassian AUS 78 +7 F
130 Gennai Goodwin AUS 79 +8 F
130 Bree Arthur AUS 79 +8 F
130 Elmay Viking COK 79 +8 F
130 Nadine White AUS 79 +8 F
130 Molly Lavercombe AUS 79 +8 F
130 Georgia Iziemgbe Oboh NGR 79 +8 F
136 Momo Sakuragi JPN 80 +9 F
136 Adele Douglas AUS Am 80 +9 F
136 Victoria Fricot AUS 80 +9 F
136 Georgia Clarke AUS 80 +9 F
136 Grace Lennon AUS 80 +9 F
141 Amber Thornton AUS Am 82 +11 F
141 Isabelle Simpson AUS Am 82 +11 F
143 Dea Mahendra IDN 85 +14 F
144 Krista Bakker FIN WDN