Rebecca Coakley of Team Ireland is off to a fast start at Suzhou Taihu Ladies Open carding a round of 69 to hold the early in the clubhouse on the opening day of the latest Ladies European Tour event in China.
The 29-year-old from Carlow recorded her first birdie at the par-three fourteenth when she sank a putt from 25 feet for an outward total of one-under. On the back nine Coakley picked up a second shot at the par-five fifth - pitching to 10 feet - holing the putt which was followed by another good chip on the eighth hole to pull clear of the rest of the field.
Last year Coakley tied for fifth on the Suzhou Taihu International golf course and this week hopes to improve on that record and perhaps become the first Irishwoman to win in the 32-year history of the Ladies European Tour.
“Obviously I’d love to win, but I just take each day as it comes. If I can play like I did today for the next two days, I think I’ll be in contention,” said Coakley, who was raised in Adelaide, Australia. “I think the key today was just having control of the golf ball. It was very windy but I just hit fairways and greens and a couple of greens that I did miss, I missed in the right places and it was relatively easy to make up and downs.”
“I really like the layout. The greens are in really good condition. You can give it a little bit of a rip off the tee. It’s quite open so it can be forgiving off the tee, which is nice.”
Kylie Walker, Nikki Garrett and Florentyna Parker, who recorded her career first hole-in-one at the 14th using a seven-iron, were in the clubhouse on two-under-par. Thailand’s Nontaya Srisawang teed off at 11.25am and was two-under-par after her first three holes.
Martina Gillen is level after playing three holes.
Tara Delaney is 3 over par through six holes.
Hazel Kavanagh signed for a round of 77 to remain 5 over par on day one.
