Kiwi Lydia Ko got off to a successful start in her title defense at the Canadian Women’s Open, firing a five-under par 65 to grab a share of the lead on Thursday.
The 16-year-old defending champion is tied for the lead after the first round at Royal Mayfair Golf Club with American Angela Stanford and Cristel Boeljon of the Netherlands.
“It was a pretty special week last year ... so to kind of have that kind of week again this week would be like a double miracle for myself,” New Zealander Ko said.
Photo: AFP
Paula Creamer and Cristie Kerr carded matching four-under 66s to share fourth, while world No. 1 Inbee Park, Choi Na-yeon, Karine Icher and 22-year-old Canadian Jennifer Kirby, who played alongside Ko, all shot three-under 67s.
“I felt very comfortable out there and ended up making a few putts, and good round,” Kirby said.
Ko was paired with 17-year old and European Solheim Cup team member Charley Hull (69) and Kirby. She said that when everyone in the group is playing well, like on Thursday, it usually translates into more birdies.
“I started off really well with a birdie, but when I have a birdie on the first hole I haven’t really played that well,” Ko said.
“I was kind of nervous that I did make a birdie on the first,” she said. “I think I played pretty solid today, but I think I played good because the whole group seemed to play good and make lots of birdies, so we were in a really good rhythm as a whole group.”
Ko became the youngest winner in LPGA history last year at 15 years and four months when she captured the crown in Vancouver.
This season, South Korean-born Ko has played in nine prior LPGA events, including four majors.
All but one of the players in last week’s Solheim Cup will be playing this week, with Sweden’s Caroline Hedwall having entered after becoming the first player to go 5-0 in a Solheim Cup in helping Europe defeat the USA women 18-10. Hedwall opened with a 68 on Thursday.
Park finished second to Ko last year, even though she collected a winner’s check because Ko was an amateur.
Taiwan’s Amy Hung was tied for 33rd after an even-par round of 70, while compatriot Candie Kung was tied for 59th a shot further back and former world No. 1 Yani Tseng shared 78th place on two over.
Additional reporting by staff writer
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but