Sanna Nuutinen Photo credit: Goran Soderqvist
Finland’s Sanna Nuutinen shot a personal best 63, eight under par, to lead by two shots on the opening day of the Bossey Ladies Championship, at Golf & Country Club de Bossey, near Geneva in Switzerland.
Nuutinen got off to the best of starts with four birdies in her first five holes, in perfect sunny conditions. The 27-year-old from Helsinki, made no mistakes to be bogey free with an outward nine of 31, five under, and back in 32. Her game was in great shape from tee to green, which provided a number of birdie opportunities.
“I was really solid from the tee and then with my approach shots and wedges. And then I just made everything I could. I made a lot of like, let’s say, 10 to 15 footers and then I missed a couple of shots, but then I saved par from a little longer once. But I didn’t really make more mistakes than that,” Nuutinen commented.
The Finn has played solidly all year and was performing well in last week’s Anna Nordqvist Vasteras Open, until the final round, shooting 79. She received some inspiration though from her friend Kim Koivu, who claimed the Vierumäki Finnish Challenge on the Challenge Tour last week.
“I had a really good week last week but then my final day was the worst score of the season, I shot seven over, but I wasn’t worried about it because I knew that I’ve got the game. It was just a really bad day for me.”
“And then actually I went to watch a good friend of mine, Kim Koivu win on the Challenge Tour on Sunday, because they played in Finland. So he’s like my training buddy so I went out there and watched him on Sunday and he won the whole thing, so we went to celebrate. I got a lot of boost from seeing one of my best friends performing so good.”
France’s Emilie Alonso produced an opening 65, six under par, to occupy 2nd place. The 25-year-old from Nice was solid in every department of her game and has been working on some changes over the last few months.
“The key was rhythm and having more angle for my driving. That was more or less the key then having the right pace for putting, because the greens here are very hilly. And so I focused more on having every time the good posture, feeling great every time I could hit a golf shot and when I was not feeling good, well just take a step back and go back to it,” Alonso commented.
“Honestly, it was great. My driving was great, I hit 17 greens so that kind of really does help and whenever my putts were sometimes a little long, it just hit the hole and went in. So sometimes it’s a little more luck but also for when you work for it sometimes you need a bit of that luck to shoot low.”
Spain’s Elia Folch shot 66, to lie in third place, kickstarting her round with a holed wedge on the 479 yd par five 13th.
“I started playing just okay today then on the first par five on the back nine, I holed my shot from 95 metres and I didn’t expect that. So after that I just kept playing like nothing happened and just made a few more putts and that was it. But I’m happy how I played,” said Folch.
Cloe Frankish from England, nursing an injury that threatened her withdrawal before the first round, produced an impressive 67, four under par, to lie in third place.
Tonje Daffinrud of Norway and Spain’s Noemi Jimenez are tied for 5th place with rounds of 68.
