HONG KONG: World No. 3 Jin Young Ko took the lead in the Aramco Team Series presented by PIF — Hong Kong after an impressive bogey-free first-round score of eight-under-par at the Hong Kong Golf Club.
The South Korean, who was one of the favorites heading into this week, dominated from the start, scoring 30 on the front nine and 35 on the back, establishing a two-shot lead over Anne van Dam of the Netherlands, who shot a six-under-par 67 and sits alone in second place.
“I practiced a lot and worked out a lot (last month), as I really wanted to play in the Aramco Team Series,” Ko said. “I’m really happy to be here in Hong Kong playing in the team event.”
She added: “If I win, it’s going to be my first win on the Ladies European Tour, so it’s going to be an honor. So that motivates me. I have two more rounds to go, so I will get some more birdies.”
Ko hit every fairway and 17 out of 18 greens on the course, where several legends of the game have triumphed in the past, including Hall of Famers Peter Thomson, Tom Watson and Greg Norman, and major champions Rory McIlroy, Bernard Langer and Padraig Harrington.
Ko, who holds the record for the most weeks spent at No. 1 in the Rolex Women World Golf Rankings, is also eyeing up a spot in the World Golf Hall of Fame and sees this week as a step closer to that illustrious milestone.
Ko remarked: “I want to get into the Hall of Fame. I have seven more points left. So, I need to get seven wins or two or three majors. So it is my motivation; it is my lifelong goal.”
Also in close contention after the first round in Hong Kong are Spanish star Nuria Itturioz (-5) and Xiyu Lin (-4) from China, along with home favorite Tiffany Chan, who took advantage of her local knowledge, opening her championship with a first-round score of 71 (-2) to remain very much in contention with two rounds to go.
Van Dam led her team of Sophie Witt, Lydia Hall and amateur Andrew Hibbert to the top of the leaderboard in the team championship, courtesy of a combined score of 16-under par.
Speaking after their round, van Dam said, “We had plenty of birdies out there, which was great. The course is definitely scorable, and it’s very fun to play, and we had a super-fun day playing with these girls.”
On their ability to complement each other’s play throughout the day, fellow teammate Lydia Hall commented: “We ham-and-egged it a little bit. I was out of it for a couple of the holes, and the girls took the lead and did what they needed to do. They both played so well, and Anne had it on a string today, which was impressive to watch.”
It is tight at the top of the leaderboard heading into the final round of the team championship. Four teams currently sit in second place at 13-under-par (Team Alonso, Team Itturioz, Team Gainer and Team Ciganda), with two more teams tied sixth at 12-under-par (Team Pettersson and Team Davidson Spilkova).