Off it goes: Ashley Lau hitting a shot from the third fairway during the first round of the women’s golf event. — AP
ASHLEY LAU took no risks and played some sensible golf to get off to a fine start in the women’s first round, carding an even par 72 at the Le Golf National yesterday.
The debutant Ashley remained solid at the difficult Albatros course and even finished level with world No. 1 and defending champion Nelly Korda of the United States.
The Sandakan-born player bogeyed the third and fourth holes but regained a shot with a birdie in the fifth.
She started the second nine with a birdie in the 10th to move to par and another birdie in the 14th sandwiched by two bogeys to keep her chances of a top 20 finish.
Ashley’s perseverance paid off when she coolly birdied the par-five 18h hole for a quality total that should help her approach the remaining three rounds with confidence.
Arriving early in Paris to acclimatise and having several practice rounds last week seemed to have helped her.
Ashley’s first round score was more impressive considering that even her male counterpart Gavin Green had struggle to get adjusted to the Albatross and scored a three-over 74 on his first round. The round was par 71 for the men’s competition.
The other golfers who were tied on 72 with Ashley are Manon de Roey of Belgium, Aditi Ashok of India, Germany’s Esther Henseleit, American Rose Zhang and Yin Ruoning of China.
