Lottie Woad shot a level-par first round to lie five shots off the Women’s Open lead jointly held by Japanese duo Eri Okayama and Rio Takeda.
England’s Woad began as favourite at Royal Porthcawl, having won two events and narrowly missing out on a first major title in July.
The 21-year-old, playing in her second tournament since turning professional, made lengthy birdie putts at the first and sixth holes as she reached the turn in level par.
A superb approach to within four feet set up another birdie at the 14th and Woad also birdied the last to sign for a 72.
However, she was unable to build any real momentum during her opening round and some solid putting for pars and bogeys prevented irretrievable damage to her tournament chances.
“It was a bit mixed,” Woad said. “It’s one of those rounds that could have got away from me so I am happy I hung in there.”
Scoring was generally good on a breezy day when short bursts of rain punctured longer spells of sunshine at the links course in south Wales.
Okayama, appearing at a Women’s Open for the first time since 2018, did not drop a shot after a bogey at the first hole and made six birdies in her round of 67.
The only blemish on Takeda’s scorecard was a double-bogey seven at the ninth, with four birdies on the back nine putting her alongside Okayama at the top of the leaderboard.
AloJapan.com