MONTREAL: American Lauren Coughlin reeled off five birdies in nine holes to seize a one-stroke lead after Thursday’s first round of the LPGA Canadian Women’s Open.
Coughlin, seeking her first LPGA triumph, fired a four-under-par 68 at Earl Grey Golf Club in Calgary to grab the early lead in windy conditions.
Australians Hannah Green and Minjee Lee, Thailand’s Ariya Jutanugarn and American Jennifer Kupcho shared second on 69.
World number 38 Coughlin had her best finishes so far this year at majors, sharing third at the Chevron Championship and placing fourth two weeks ago at the Evian Championship.
“Pretty much ever since Evian I’ve been hitting the ball extremely well. To keep it going even in an off week felt really good,” Coughlin said.
“It’s just trying to be myself and have fun and then see what I shoot.”
Coughlin parred the back nine but birdied the par-5 first and fourth holes then birdied the par-3 fifth before her lone bogey at the sixth. She answered with birdies at the eighth and par-3 ninth holes.
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“It was a lot windier than I was expecting, so just had to stay super patient in the beginning,” Coughlin said.
“Kind of started getting some putts dropping. It was tough out there for sure, but I hit a lot of really good shots and a lot of good putts.
“Started making a bunch of like 12- to 15-footers. That’s always good.”
Ariya, who won the event at Calgary in 2016, reeled off three birdies in a row starting at the par-5 14th then made back-to-back bogeys. She followed with birdies at the par-5 fourth and par-4 sixth holes.
“Today I just play no expectation because like it’s really windy when we start,” she said. “Especially like first 12 holes so hard. I think when I play without expectations, everything starts to get better.”
Green birdied the fifth and sixth holes but followed a birdie at the par-5 14th with a bogey at the par-5 16th, answering with a birdie at the par-3 17th to seize a share of second.
“I thought the scores would be lower because I thought the par-5s were quite generous,” Green said.
“But playing in this wind this afternoon was tough. We experienced some of the highest winds on some of the tougher holes.
“It was difficult out there. It was pretty cold towards the middle of our round. Just super happy to finish under par.”
Sharing sixth on 70 were New Zealand’s Lydia Ko, Americans Gigi Stoll and Alison Lee and South Koreans Ryu Hae-ran, Jenny Shin and Choi Hye-jin.
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