England’s Gemma Clews had a strong start to her title defence campaign after carding a faultless round of 65 (-5) on a sunny day at Smorum Golf Club.
It was a hot start for the Manchester based player who had three consecutive birdies on holes two, three and four.
Another birdie on the 15th and a fabulous finishing birdie on the 18th, put the 29-year-old, two shots in front heading into the second day of competition.
Speaking about her round Clews said: “I couldn’t have asked for a better start really. I came back to defend my title and then to post a first round of 65, yeah, I’m happy with that.
“Today I didn’t do anything amazing but I just kept giving myself chances and took them when I had the opportunity.”
The Manchester based player, who recently placed second at the AIG Women’s Open pre-qualifier on her home course, graduated from the LET Access Series (LETAS) last year but is enjoying coming back to defend the title.
“I thought I would feel more pressure, but I felt relaxed leading up to it and whilst I’ve been here.
“It’s lovely to see myself like that because it is something I’ve been working quite hard on. I just felt excitement coming into this. I wanted to get going and get started.”
Clews is wearing her “birdie shirt” today and that move certainly paid off.
“My favourite birdie would be the last. To finish on a high was always great.
“Tomorrow I just want to go out and enjoy it, to have fun and stick to my processes and just see what happens.”
Two shots behind Clews lies two players, Germany’s Helen Tamy Kreuzer and Sweden’s Kajsa Arwefjall.
Arwefjall also had a flawless round with birdies on holes three, six and 11.
“It was good, I was playing very stable golf,” admitted the World Champion rope skipper. “I hit a lot of greens and fairways. It was good.”
“It’s my first time in Smorum, I think it’s great, it’s a different kind of golf than I’ve been playing lately.
“The greens are very firm and the fairways, so you have to calculate the shots a little different.”
The Swedish golfer already had one win this year at the Moregolf Mastercard Open and currently sits second on the LETAS Order of Merit.
A win would close the gap between her and the current leader Germany’s Helen Briem, who won three consecutive events back in June.
This week, the 24-year-old has a secret weapon, a big support team.
“I’m having a lot of fun out there. It’s lovely having my dad on the bag and I’ve played with Ana before, but it was great to meet Kelsey.
“My mum was watching on the sidelines, and I think there will be some family coming over tomorrow.
“I have a lot of family just over the bridge in Sweden, about 40 minutes away.”
Arwefjall has her eyes on the prize as she gets ready to narrow the gap between her and Clews.
“Tomorrow, I want to hit some stronger approach shots because I was a little far away. I need to calculate it a little better. I was lucky with dropping in some long putts. I will just go out there and have some fun.”
Also, on three-under-par is Germany’s Helen Tamy Kreuzer who got off to a strong start on hole 10 with an impeccable front nine of two birdies.
On the back, Kreuzer kept the momentum to card birdies on holes 13 and 16 before a bogey on the 17thbecame the only blemish on her scorecard.
“I got lucky with an early tee time; the conditions were great. Not too windy and not too hot. The course is in great shape, and I just took advantage of it.
“I played this event last year; this year the course is very firm, and it is hard to hit into the greens.
“I think it’s hard to judge to get it close, I think it’s a good course. It requires a little bit of everything.”
Kreuzer’s season has seen mixed results, but she enters this tournament in fine form after a runner-up position at the PGA Championship Gothenburg.
The 25-year-old showed she had a winning mentality back in March on the Sunshine Ladies Tour, where she secured her maiden professional win in the Fidelity ADT Ladies Challenge held at the Blue Valley Golf Estate
The German currently sits 10th on the LETAS Order of Merit with 420.70 points, so a win could see her make a massive leap up the ranks.
“I’m really enjoying the challenge this week so far. Tomorrow I just want to keep doing what I did today. There is so much golf left to be played in this tournament, but I’m happy to have had a good first round.
“This season has been a little bit of a rollercoaster so far. It started out well on the Sunshine Tour event, then I struggled on the LET and came back to LETAS.
“After the second-place finish at the last event, I’m just trying to build on it and take confidence from that and see what the next stretch brings.”
Most players have come into this week after a month break from tournament play, but Kreuzer had the opportunity to play at the Dutch Ladies Open, where she missed the cut.
“During the break I was at home, then I got into the LET event in the Netherlands. So, I played there and then last week I was just watching the Olympics every day of the week and just practicing.
“I’ve gathered so much inspiration from the Olympics, it’s amazing to see those athletes compete.”
Five players are tied fourth on two-under-par; Denmark’s Line Toft Hansen, France’s Ariane Klotz, England’s Billie-Jo Smith, amateur Mimi Rhodes and Germany’s Carolin Kauffmann.
Round two begins at 7:35 am, at the end of which there will be a cut to the top 45 professionals and ties.
Follow all the action throughout the Smorum Ladies Open on the LETAS social media channels – @letaccess on Instagram, X, and Ladies European Tour Access Series on Facebook – #RaiseOurGame #Access2Let #EnjoyTheGame.
