Saturday, November 23, 2013

LPGA: Sandra Gal earns one-shot lead as Lydia Ko struggles on professional debut

1:54 PM

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Sandra Gal got off to a flying start at the LPGA Titleholders Championship in Florida as teenage superstar Lydia Ko made her professional debut.
Solheim Cup star Gal birdied her first six holes after starting at the 10th, and the German picked up three more shots over her last four holes to card a superb eight-under 64.
The only blot on her card was a bogey at the fifth as Gal earned a one-stroke lead over Canadian Rebecca Lee-Bentham, who also covered the back nine in 30 blows before hitting back from a bogey at the second with birdies at four and nine.
Gal's Solheim Cup team-mate Anna Nordqvist is a further shot adrift after mixing eight birdies with two dropped shots, including a mistake at the last which cost her a share of second.
The Swede is alongside in-form Lexi Thompson and China's Shanshan Feng, who provided one of the highlights of the day when she holed her approach to the ninth for an unlikely eagle.
World No 1 Inbee Park of Korea is in a six-way tie four shots off the lead after a round comprising one bogey and five birdies, while Scottish veteran Catriona Matthew - the lone Briton in the field, opened with a solid 70.
But much of the attention was on 16-year-old Ko, who already has two LPGA Tour titles under her belt as an amateur.
The Seoul-born New Zealander, the youngest person ever to win a professional golf tour event, made a nervy start as she double-bogeyed the third and dropped another shot at the seventh.
But she responded with birdies at the eighth, 12th, 15th and 17th holes to salvage a one-under 71 which left her tied for 30th in the 69-player field.

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