England’s Emily Price fired an opening round of 67 (-5) to lead at the end of the first day of the Montauban Ladies Open.
The Birmingham based rookie started her day at Golf de Montauban L’Estang well with three birdies in her first four holes, before she rolled in two more on six and fifteen.
It was a faultless round for the 23-year-old and her lowest round on the tour so far, her previous being 69 during the first round of Santander Golf Tour-Girona.
“I’m very happy with the round,” Price exclaimed, “This morning we didn’t know what weather we were going to get. So, it was about getting out there and grinding it out a little bit.
“We stuck to the game plan, but I did get off to a hot start. It is nice when you go birdie, birdie.
“From there momentum kept with me and I tried to close it out.
“There are a few tricky holes on the back nine, but I got through them and kept my cool.”
Price has had a strong season so far in her rookie year on LETAS where she currently sits at sixth on the Order of Merit with 301.75 points and second on the Rookie of the Year order.
“Off the tee, I hit every fairway which helps with a course like this. Now I want to scratch this round out my memory a little bit and try and do the same tomorrow.
“However, it would be awesome to have my first LETAS win, that is what I am here to try and do, we all want to get a trophy and win.
“I enjoy the chase, however,r if I remain patient and get the win, I will be a very happy girl.”
Four players sit in a tie for second place with Malaysia’s Ainil Bakar, Sweden’s Corinne Viden and Emma Thorngren and Denmark’s Sofie Kibsgaard Nielsen on four-under-par.
Bakar set the early pace this morning after carding an almost flawless round with birdies on the first three holes.
Bakar kept her composure to score two more birdies on holes six and eleven and a bogey on the 18th hole was the only blemish on her card.
“I made three birdies in a row on the first three holes,” Bakar explained, “And it just went well from there, I dropped the shot on the last, but other than that it went well.
“My driving made my game good today. That was surprising given I changed my driver today, after some practice on the range and on the recommendation of my brother.
“I only missed three fairways today, so I think that change worked.
“Tomorrow, I’m just going to go out there have fun and follow the flow.
“I played here maybe three or four years ago, it’s similar from then. You have to hit and land the ball on this golf course because it is very narrow.
“If you get a good tee shot and put it on the fairway, then you can have birdie chances on your second shot.”
The Malaysian golfer’s last professional win was in 2016, when she secured victory at the 2016 EVLI Ladies Finnish Open.
“The last victory was a long time ago, so I don’t want to think far ahead. I’m just going day by day because it’s been a struggle for me the past few years.
“If I start thinking about the win, then it will make my game worse.”
2021 Champion and French amateur Marine Griffaut was the highest ranked French player alongside 13-year-old French amateur Alice Kong.
The two are sitting in a share of third place on three under par alongside Switzerland’s Elena Moosmann and Spain’s Marta Martin.
“It was actually a very good round,” Griffaut admitted, “If you had told me that I would shoot three under, I would have signed it yesterday.”
“I enjoyed the round and course a lot, it was so easy to pick a target and just go for it. I wanted to test myself in the tournament as a previous winner and I feel I did that.
“Tomorrow, I want to do the same thing to keep it simple. I really want to enjoy the round like I did today because that’s my main goal, enjoying it.
“It is so cool to be out here with all my memories. Everything so far is positive, so I just need to keep that positivity.”
Round two gets underway at 8:00 am local time tomorrow and at the conclusion of play, there will be a cut to the top-45 players and ties.
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