French amateur Nastasia Nadaud fired an opening round of four-under 68 to lead the Goteborg Open at the end of the first day at the Swedish Kungsbacka Golfklubb.
The 17-year-old talent began her round with three birdies early on, scoring on holes three, four, and six to make the turn in 33 strokes.
“Starting with three birdies on the first six holes today definitely helped me to get into my game,” commented the 190th player on the World Amateur Golf Rankings.
She added: “I felt really good about heading into the tournament, I enjoyed the course during the practice rounds, and my game was very solid.”
Nadaud, who won the prestigious German Girls Open in June started her back nine with a bogey but then made two birdies on holes 13 and 15 to get to four-under-par.
“This course is quite challenging, the roughs are not easy, so one of the most important things is to be on the fairways,” she said.
“I just hit my zones on the fairways, on the greens, and made a few putts. Then I managed to save my pars on the seaside holes, which can be hard to handle.”
The Frenchwoman dropped one shot on 17 but birdied the final hole to lead by two strokes in the opening round of her third LETAS start this season.
“I’ve been playing quite well all season in the amateur world, and I will keep working hard on my game so that I can perform on the professional side, too.
“I am happy about taking the lead so early on this week, but there is still work to be done until the last day. I won’t rush things. I will just focus on the process and see how things will go.”
Two players are tied for second place two shots back with Czechia’s Sara Kouskova and Sweden’s Emma Thorngren both on two-under-par.
Kouskova had a perfect start to her round with five birdies on the front nine, getting on four-under through seven holes.
The two-time LETAS winner did not score on the back nine and after a bogey on the 16th hole, she signed for a round of 70 shots.
Thorngren had a more consistent round with two birdies on the front, adding one bogey and one birdie on the back nine to tie the second spot with Kouskova.
Five players tie the fourth position as the Netherlands’ Zhen Bontan, France’s Lucie Andre, Norway’s amateur Celine Brovold Sanne and Swedish duo Zandra Nilsson and Anna Magnusson all carded the first round of one-under 71.
Sharing the ninth place at level par are Wales’ Lea Anne Bramwell, the Netherlands’ Marit Harryvan, Scotland’s Tara Mactaggart, Italy’s Erika De Martini, and another Swedish duo Corinne Viden and Carolina Sandstrom.
The second round will start on Thursday morning at 8:00 local time.
After the completion of 36 holes, 45 professional plus ties will make the cut.
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