England’s Lottie Woad endured a irritating begin to the Girls’s Open as Japan’s Eri Okayama and Rio Takeda topped the first-round leaderboard at a sunny Royal Porthcawl on Thursday.
An astonishing July, which culminated in Woad profitable the Scottish Open in her first occasion as an expert, had made the 21-year-old favorite for the 12 months’s remaining main.
However the former Florida State College participant discovered the going robust on the south Wales coast as she floor out a level-par spherical of 72 because of a birdie on the final.
Okayama’s five-under 67 gave her the lead earlier than she was joined by Takeda after she birdied the 18th.
Japanese gamers dominated the opening day with Miyu Yamashita at four-under forward of a giant group on three-under that included Chevron Championship winner Mao Saigo, Shiho Kuwaki and Chisato Iwai.
Reigning champion Lydia Ko of New Zealand and world primary Nelly Korda, like Woad, did not benefit from comparatively calm circumstances.
Ko completed on one over, whereas American Korda was two-under par.
World quantity 139 Okayama bogeyed her opening gap however birdied 5 of the following eight and was rock strong on the way in which again with one other birdie on the seventeenth shifting her forward.
Takeda recovered from a double-bogey seven on the ninth with 4 birdies on the again 9, placing her joint first.
By far the most important galleries assembled simply after lunchtime to look at Woad in a bunch alongside Ko and American Lilia Vu.
Regardless of it being her first main as an expert, Surrey-born Woad’s win on the Irish Open after which lacking out by one stroke on the Evian Championship simply earlier than turning professional meant she arrived in Wales with sky-high expectations.
Woad was a cumulative 55-under-par for her final three tournaments, and the group didn’t have to attend lengthy for a glimpse of her high quality as she rolled in a birdie on the first.
A bogey on the third and one other on the fifth adopted, however she then had the group cheering as a protracted putt from the sting of the sixth inexperienced disappeared for an additional birdie.
Woad struggled to realize any momentum although and scrambled for a par-five on the ninth.
A bogey on the eleventh put her one over for the spherical, however she obtained again to stage with a birdie three on the 14th after an imposing method shot.
One other mistake on the par-three fifteenth price her shot, although earlier than a birdie on the 18th made certain she completed the way in which she had began.