Alexandra Swayne and Lina Boqvist both fired opening rounds of 65 (-7) to sit at the top of the leaderboard on the first day of the KPMG Women’s Irish Open.
The duo enjoyed the better of the conditions at Dromoland Castle with sunshine all afternoon following the morning’s rainfall.
For LET rookie Swayne, who began her round on the 10th tee, her only bogey of the day came at the 12thbefore she rolled in four birdies to make the turn in 34 (-3).
Further birdies on the second, fifth, seventh and ninth holes ensured the U.S. Virgin Islands native carded a round of seven-under-par on day one.
“It was a good day,” she said. “I can’t complain at all, it was a good group so that made it easy. I was just seeing shots and hitting them. There was nothing to it and there was nothing special honestly. I just made a lot of putts which helped.
“I actually haven’t been playing my best, but I know going into tournaments to have no expectations and that’s what I had today and that’s quite helpful. I’ve learned that’s what gets me able to have lower rounds.”
While it was a similar story for Sweden’s Boqvist who also started on the 10th tee and rolled in five birdies on her front nine including four consecutively from 15 to 18.
The 31-year-old then dropped her only shot of the day on the second hole before making additional birdies on the third, sixth and seventh holes.
“It was a solid golf round,” said Boqvist. “I played very well. I had a few saves for par and then a lot of birdies, so it was a nice day on the course.
“On the seventh I had a tap-in birdie which was about 15 centimetres from the hole, so it was an easy birdie. I hit a 7-iron close to the pin! It is tough, but it’s so beautiful up there and the sun was shining also.”
Three players are in a tie for third place on six-under-par with England’s Annabel Dimmock, Czechia’s Klara Spilkova and France’s Anne-Lise Caudal all shooting rounds of 66.
The second round begins at 8am local time on Friday morning and there will be a cut at the end of the day with the top 60 professionals and ties making it through to the weekend.
