Sweden’s Emma Thorngren is in the lead after the first day of the Calatayud Ladies Open, carding an error-free round of five-under 67 in Spain.
The 25-year-old Swede started the opening round on the back nine where she managed to score five times as she carded four consecutive birdies on holes 13 through 16.
“My front nine was really good, I just kept rolling the putts in and I kept hitting really good shots and overall, it was a lot of fun today,” said Thorngren.
Making the turn in 31 strokes, the leader continued on her back nine with nine pars to be at the top of the leaderboard by one stroke heading into the second round of the last tournament on the LETAS schedule.
“I tried to keep myself in the moment when I had all those birdies and hit shot by shot. I got a little nervous on the back nine since I’ve been out of competitive golf for about a month but I’m really proud of myself that I kept it all together today.
Finland’s Karina Kukkonen and Swiss amateur Elena Moosmann are in a tie for second after they both fired a round of four-under 68 on day one.
Kukkonen, who started on the tenth tee opened her round with three birdies on holes 11, 13, and 16 and dropped the only shot of the day on the par-four 17th hole.
Making the turn in 34 shots, the Fin added back-to-back birdies on holes three and four to share second place.
While Moosmann also started on hole ten, the amateur had a bogey on her opening hole and made the turn in 36 strokes after a birdie on the par-five 16th hole.
The Swiss talent’s putter got hot with back-to-back birdies on holes two and three, another birdie on the fifth, and the last one on the eighth to climb up the leaderboard.
Six players are in a tie for fourth after England’s Ellie Gower, the Netherlands’ Marit Harryvan, Scotland’s Tara Mactaggart, New Zealand’s Momoka Kobori, and Norwegian duo Celine Desiree Karlung and Julie Boysen Hillestad all carded a first round of three-under-par.
Another shot back and sharing the tenth position are Nina Pegova, Spain’s Natalia Escuriola Martinez, French amateur Eleanor Aernouts, Scotland’s Hannah McCook, Germany’s Patricia Isabel Schmidt, and English duo Katrina Gillum and Amy Taylor.
The second round will start on Thursday morning at 9:00 local time. After the completion of 36 holes, 45 professionals plus ties will make the cut.
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