Spain's NurIa Iturrios leads Aussie Ladies Classic

Coffs Harbour, New South Wales: Nuria Iturrios (pictured) from Spain holds a four-shot lead midway through the Pacific Bay Resort Australian Ladies Classic – Bonville after a superb second round of 67, played in strong winds and rain.

Just nine players are in red figures for the tournament with Iturrios leading on eight-under-par in total.

Overnight leader Doey Choi dropped to four-under and outright second with fellow Australian Hannah Green in third on three-under.

Sweden’s Madelene Sagstrom, Jenny Haglund and rookie Linnea Strom share fourth with Norwegian Marianne Skarpnord.

Those out early played through squally conditions with a fickle wind, which strengthened considerably for the afternoon wave.

Iturrios’ 67 was the best round of the day and she was only one of two players to break 70 along with Denmark’s Nicole Broch Larsen (69), lying in a share of 10^th.

The 2016 Lalla Meryem Cup champion, 23, from Palma de Mallorca, carded five birdies on day two at Bonville Golf Resort. She said afterwards: “36 holes with no bogeys. I’m feeling so good! I’m feeling comfortable with my game, so let’s see. Hopefully 36 holes more.”

She has changed her swing over the winter to hit a lower shot, which helped her to control the ball in the wet and blustery conditions.

“I made three or four birdies in that wind, so I’m feeling so great. I’ll just keep hitting those low balls,” she said.

“I love to be in this position. Finally I have the cameras around me again! I’m going to have some mango sticky rice tonight and sleep well.”

Sydney amateur Doey Choi dropped two shots in her first three holes but then steadied the ship and had a 74. She said: “It was really windy out there, so I’m pleased with my score today. When you’re out there, it feels like you’re the only one, but I think I did a good job in holding it together and I think I did really well out there today.”

On playing in the last group with Iturrios and Green, she said: “I think I’ll be a little nervous but it’s not my first time in contention so I’ve just got to block it out and play my own game.”

Green remains highly motivated to win on home soil for the first time and takes comfort from her ball striking in the conditions.

She said: “I knew it was going to be difficult so I’m pleased to shoot level par and it felt like under par but I did leave a lot out there, so there are good signs for the next couple of days.”

Strom, who is playing in her first Ladies European Tour event as a rookie professional, was tied for third with Green but bogeyed the last hole in fading light.

She said: “It was very tough. You really needed to focus on every shot and I think that’s why I got a little tired at the end. I felt that it was a very long round and in this wind, it’s very difficult. I didn’t think about the score today. During the round, I didn’t know where I was at and I just tried to hit every shot wherever I decided to.”

She added that having former LET order of merit winner and Solheim Cup player Sophie Gustafson as her caddie was helpful. “I think we worked really well together as a team. We were both very clear about what kind of shots to hit and where to end up and it worked out well. Usually I don’t refer to her on the greens but today I thought with the wind and the grain, it was nice to have someone to discuss it with to make sure you don’t make any easy mistakes.”

Don’t miss the action from Bonville Golf Resort this weekend. The last group tees off at 9.20am with live coverage on television and live streaming online from 10.30am AEST.

Maguire looking for low number

Ireland’s Leona Maguire is 12 strokes off the pace halfway through her first LET event since turning professional but feels that an early tee time will give her the best chance to post a low number on Saturday.

With two days to go, she lies in a share of 37^th on four-over-par, but her second round score of 75 doesn’t tell the whole story, as a near gale blew through Bonville Golf Resort on Friday afternoon, which made scoring extremely difficult for the later starters.

“We definitely got the rougher side of the draw, so I’m happy with how I managed that,” she said. “I mean, there were some tough winds out there today. I felt like I played pretty nicely coming in on the back side. Those last six holes were really playing tough. Most of them were back into the wind and it was swirling around. I was really patient. I didn’t have any birdies today but made some good pars which felt like birdies.”

Although Maguire was raised in Cavan, she has spent the last four years at Duke University in North Carolina and said that she is not used to playing in such strong winds in general.

“It was probably as strong as this at the Vic Open on Saturday, but today was pretty strong. Quite a few times I had to back off shots and leaves and branches were falling. Some holes we were allowing 30 yards. It just depended on which gust you caught,” she said.

Maguire will tee off at 7.40am from the ninth with China’s Xi Yu Lin and fellow rookie Diksha Dagar from India.

“Two more days to go so I’ll get out earlier tomorrow and try to post a low number.”

Joy for Choi at Aussie Ladies Classic


 

 

 

Coffs Harbour, Australia – 21^st February 2019: 
Rising New South Wales amateur star Doey Choi, pictured, holds a two-stroke lead after the opening round of the Pacific Bay Resort Australian Ladies Classic – Bonville.

 

Choi, the reigning Queensland and South Australian women’s amateur champion, fired a brilliant six-under-par 66 to sit two shots clear of Swedish duo Madelene Sagstrom and Daniela Holmqvist at Bonville Golf Resort in Coffs Harbour.

Another Swede, Jenny Haglund, shares fourth with western Australians Hannah Green and Whitney Hillier who played during a morning of light rain. They were later joined by Nuria Iturrios from Spain, who shot a bogey-free 69 in hot and humid conditions.

Choi, 18, from Concord Golf Club in Sydney, reeled off an impressive eight birdies against two bogeys in her first round. She made six birdies against a solitary bogey in her first 11 holes, with her only blemish on the difficult 17^th played over water, where she failed to get up and down from over the green.

She bounced back immediately with back-to-back birdies, sinking a solid putt on the long 18th followed by a chip-in on the par-4 first and made further gains at the fifth and sixth holes before dropping a second shot on her penultimate hole, the par-5 seventh.

Choi was pleased with her best ever 18-hole score, as she had a tough time at the Australian Open in Adelaide last week.

Tied for the lead with Karrie Webb on three-under-par after nine holes, she dropped four strokes over the back nine for an opening 73 and followed up with an 80 to miss the cut by seven shots.

“I didn’t play too good last week so confidence wasn’t too high. I haven’t been hitting it that great, so it was nice to play some solid golf today,” said Choi.

“There’s a little bit more pressure now, for the next few rounds, so hopefully I can play some more solid golf and be up there.”

She added that she has enjoyed playing golf at Bonville since she was a junior.

Sagstrom, the halfway co-leader at the Australian Open last week, also made a solid start in the challenging weather conditions.

“It was very much rain on, rain off. We can’t control the weather, so we stayed patient and did what we were supposed to and made really clear decisions,” said the European Solheim Cup player, who mixed six birdies with two bogeys on her debut at Bonville.

“We had a really set game plan and I was trying to hit fairways, greens and get the putter rolling, because I know I can make birdies with the putter. We stuck to that game plan all the way round and I holed a few putts, so it was very steady out there and it was nice.”

Holmqvist, who finished fourth in the tournament last year, was back in the mix after a flawless round containing four birdies.

She said: “I shot four-under-par with 31 putts, so my ball striking was pretty good. I hit 17 greens today, reached two par 5s in two and overall it was a comfortable day. I wish I had made more putts, but don’t we all. I was a good day and I love this course. I think it’s beautiful and a great track.

“I think we were lucky today with the weather. It looked a lot worse on the forecast and I don’t know if it rained a lot overnight, but the course was in great shape.”

Earlier in the day, Green made a flying start with consecutive birdies on her first two holes, the ninth and the 10^th and she moved to three-under with a birdie on the long 14^th. She dropped shots on 16 and 17, but quickly recovered with birdies on the fourth and the seventh.

Green said: “It was a bit up and down. I had a couple of bogeys out there due to 3-putting, but then I also holed some really good putts as well. Overall I’m happy with how I struck the ball today and I hit a lot of greens, which put me in the position to have some birdie putts. Hopefully I can continue that momentum throughout the week.

“The course held up really well with the rain, so you didn’t have to worry about any water puddles. The course is really good and the greens are really nice.

“It wasn’t causing me trouble, but then it was frustrating to have it sometimes rain quite hard and then all of a sudden nothing and then the sun came down, so it was really humid.”

Hillier also had a topsy turvy round, highlighted by an eagle on the par-4 sixth, where she holed her second shot from 118 metres using a 9-iron.

She said: “I’m very happy with today. It was a solid round to start off the tournament and I had a cheeky little hole out for eagle on six, so that helped the score. I played really well and kept to my game plan.  I’ll just keep doing what I’m doing and try to read the greens well, because they are quite grainy. I love these conditions, the hot, humid weather. It’s perfect.”

The forecast is for sporadic showers all week, and while that might prove tricky for the players, it will be a source of pleasure for the locals after a lengthy dry spell in recent weeks. 

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