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SA's Buhai, two others, share lead in South Korea

golf17 October 2024 15:20| © Reuters
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Ashleigh Buhai © Gallo Images

Ashleigh Buhai of South Africa, Hannah Green of Australia and Jenny Shin of South Korea each carded an 8-under-par 64 to reside atop the leaderboard after the first round of the BMW Ladies Championship on Thursday in Paju, South Korea.

Buhai filled her bogey-free round with four birdies on the front nine and four more on the back at Seowon Hills at Seowon Valley Country Club.

"Yeah, this course it does suit me. Last year in the first here I shot 10-under, so I clearly like the first rounds at this golf course," Buhai said.

"The conditions were perfect. It was a little cold when we teed off so the ball was traveling like one club less. But on the back nine it was beautiful. Yeah, I just hit it into good areas, and like I said, made some really good putts."

She wasn't the only one.

Green recorded four birdies on her final six holes of the front nine. She added birdies on Nos. 12 and 14 before ending her bogey-free round with birdies on her final two holes.

"When I actually played in the Pro-Am a couple days ago, I had the same score," Green said.

"It was nice to play some simple golf. Last week in China, I just had a very mixed scorecard, made some bigger numbers, and just to go bogey-free was really nice but it also helps when you hit 18 greens. I think I only missed one fairway. So it was nice to be really stress-free out there and obviously see a few putts go."

Shin started quickly on the back nine, registering three consecutive birdies on holes Nos. 14-16.

She added another one the back nine and four more on the front nine to reside in a three-way tie.

Haeran Ryu of South Korea resides one shot off the pace, with six others tied for fifth place after shooting a 66 on Thursday.

Frenchwoman Celine Boutier headlines that field after registering an eagle and four birdies.

Defending champion Minjee Lee of Australia also turned in a bogey-free round to sit in an 11-way tie for 11th place at 5-under.

Megan Khang, Rose Zhang and South Korea's Jeongeun Lee6 also are part of that contingent.

World No 1 Nelly Korda withdrew on Monday due to a neck injury and also pulled out of next week's event in Malaysia.

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