Ladies European Open Archives - Golf Digest Middle East

World No. 1 Lydia Ko relishing first taste of Aramco Team Series

Golf Digest Middle East — Wed, 15 Mar 2023 10:16:03 +0000

Lydia Ko speaks to the Media in Singapore. ATS/Neville Hopwood

World No. 1 and two-time major winner Lydia Ko is excited for her first taste of the Aramco Team Series this week, with the opening tournament of the series set to take place at Laguna National Golf Resort Club in Singapore.

Having started the season in scintillating form, including winning the history-making $5 million Aramco Saudi Ladies International at Royal Greens Golf & Country Club in February, the 25-year-old’s team will be made up of German star Aline Krauter, Swede Lisa Pettersson and amateur Andres Acosta Luque.

It will be a week of firsts for Ko as she will not only tee it up in an Aramco Team Series event, but she will also play for the first time at Laguna National Golf Resort Club.

The Kiwi star is excited by the challenge ahead.

“Yeah, golf is an individual sport, so I haven’t had many chances since turning professional to be in kind of a team format,” she said. “This one is a little bit more unique where this is still individual, every stroke counts, but at the same time, you’re in a team format for the first couple days.

“I’m really looking forward to it. I think it’s going to be a little bit strange to grasp tomorrow, but it should be a lot of fun. And I’ve never played this golf course, so it’s nice to come to and see something new and then just adjust to that.

“The greens are very small. I think if you hit it on the green you have got a pretty good chance for birdies. I think the front nine there is a little bit more water in play, so especially with the forecast of the wind being a little bit breezier like the last couple days, I think it could definitely be a factor.

“But, yeah, if you drive it pretty well around here you can get a little bit aggressive with the pin positions, and I think if your iron play especially is good, I think that’s going to be the big key for this week.”

Lydia Ko at the ATS Singapore draft party with Danielle Kang and host Gabbie Partington. ATS/Oisin Keniry

This week’s event forms part of a record-breaking Ladies European Tour schedule with a $1million prize fund on offer and vital Costa del Sol ranking points.

The Aramco Team Series will head to Florida, London, Hong Kong and Riyadh later in the year also with $1million purses, but eyes are firmly focused on Singapore this week.

Ko spoke glowingly on the investment from Aramco and other sponsors leading the charge aiming to grow women’s golf, adding: “I think we’ve seen lots of momentum, more partners supporting and believing in the women’s game.

“We’ve seen that especially with big purse jumps. When the Aramco Saudi Ladies International chose to match the men’s purse, I thought that was a very exciting momentum and change and dynamic for women’s golf. I hope that more and more partners will get on this trend and we will see more of this equality.

“I get to play alongside the best female golfers’ week in, week out. Sometimes I get goosebumps seeing how good they are, so it’s great that we have these partners like Aramco who are stepping forward and believing in the women’s environment.”

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Doherty and Ferguson close in on victory at DP World/LET ISPS Handa World Invitational

Matt Smith — Sun, 14 Aug 2022 07:00:58 +0000

By Matt Smith
Ewen Ferguson will take a three-stroke lead into the final round of the ISPS Handa World Invitational as he seeks a second DP World Tour title.

The Scotsman, who secured his maiden success at the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters in March, started the day one stroke ahead of Spain’s Borja Virto at Galgorm Castle Golf Club but quickly moved clear after birdies on the second and fourth holes.

His third birdie of the day came on the 10th and he recovered from back-to-back bogeys on the 14th and 15th with his fourth gain of the day on the 18th as he moved to 11-under par after signing for a two under 68.

The 26-year-old sits three strokes ahead of American John Catlin, who won the Irish Open at this venue in 2020.

Last year’s Challenge Tour Number One Marcus Helligkilde, of Denmark, carded the lowest round of the day, a six-under 64, which included two eagles and four birdies, to move into a share of third place on seven-under. Joining him in third place are England’s Jack Senior, Scotsman Connor Syme and Virto.

A further cut has been made after the third round of the the innovative event, which sees a DP World Tour and a co-sanctioned LPGA Tour and Ladies European Tour tournament taking place on the same golf course. The top 35 players and ties from each tournament after 54-holes will contest the final day, with 38 men and 39 women set to tee it up in alternating groups.

In the women’s competition, Amanda Doherty will go in search of her first LPGA Tour title as she takes a one-stroke lead into the final day. The American, who has led since the first round, is one shot clear from 2018 Women’s Open champion Georgia Hall and Peiyun Chien from Chinese Taipei.

“I feel like overall it was a good day. I got off to a little bit of a rough start and I hit a few crazy shots today, so I managed to kind of come back from those and try and stay patient to have a decent round,” said Doherty.

“Going into the second round and going into today I was in pretty much the same spot, so I feel like I’ve had a little bit of experience with that this week. Obviously, the final round is a little bit different, but I’m excited.

“I was glad to get a birdie on 18. I had a few close calls, and nothing was going in, so it was nice to get that one. I was in contention quite a few times last year on the Epson Tour. I didn’t pull any of them off, but I feel like I had good final rounds. That’s all you can ask for. You can’t control what anybody else does. As long as I can have a solid final round, I’ll be happy with that.”

Ewen Ferguson

Ferguson added: “For 36 holes I played really, really good. Today was such a grind. I knew that I didn’t feel great on the range and it was going to be a grind, so battled away and chipped and putted my way to shooting a really good 68 around a tough golf course and extended my lead. Can’t ask for much more, to be honest.

“It’s just way too early to start feeling pressure. I’ll feel pressure tomorrow on the back nine, but like I just was just — you’re just jockeying for position at this moment it seems like, so just kind of going with it. Try to enjoy it, even though it is — it was tough because I wasn’t at all on my game, but grinded it out really well.”

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Ladies European Tour: Hye Jin Choi leads the way from Lydia Ko at Scottish Open on Dundonald Links

Matt Smith — Fri, 29 Jul 2022 04:02:46 +0000

By Matt Smith
South Korea’s Hye Jin Choi fired a course-record 64 to set the standard on eight-under and lead the Trust Golf Women’s Scottish Open at the end of the first day at Dundonald Links.

The 22-year-old began her round with two pars before making a bogey on the third hole, but after that she found her rhythm and rolled in an eagle on the fifth.

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Choi then made three consecutive birdies on holes seven through nine before adding four more on her back nine including on the 18th to reach eight-under.

“Today I had really good shots overall,” she said. “But more than my shots, my putter was very good, so I had a lot of chances. I just made birdies when I got the chance and I played well with a good attitude on the rest of my holes.

“I had a lot of birdies. I made some really good putts today, so I just believed in my green-reading and just hit it. That really worked and all the balls hit the middle of hole. That helped me to keep up my confidence.”

Three players are tied for second place just one shot back with France’s Celine Boutier, American Lilia Vu and New Zealand’s Lydia Ko all on seven-under.

It was a bogey-free day for Boutier, who rolled in four birdies on the front nine and three on the back nine and contended with the heavy mid-afternoon rainfall.

“It was a little bit of everything,” said the three-time LET winner. “It was calm all day, but then there was a part in the middle that was really kind of crazy and the wind started picking up, too. Then it was really calm at the end.

“I think my putting was really solid all day. I feel like even when I missed greens and stuff and I had maybe five- or six-footers for par, I would make them. It was really helpful to get my putting today.

“It’s my first time playing this course. I was kind of a little bit unsure what to expect. You just really have to go with the flow and it’s kind of nice because you just don’t have any expectations.”

Ko added: “Overall I thought I played pretty solidly, and I think when I did put myself out of position, I patiently and calmly approached how I needed to go about that hole. I’m happy with the way I started and hopefully I’ll be able to feed off the good momentum for the next few days.”

Two players sit in a share of fifth place with England’s Georgia Hall and South Korea’s Narin An both producing rounds of six-under 66.

And 2018 AIG Women’s Open champion Hall is enjoying being back at a course where she has played well in the past.

“I’m very happy with how I played today. Everything was pretty good, I didn’t really miss a shot and managed to hole some good putts. I’m really happy and enjoying playing links golf again,” said Hall, who won the 2022 Aramco Saudi Ladies International. “It’s proper links. There are really tough holes as well, when you get near the sea on the other side, and I find it fairly easy to visualise shots. There’s a lot of slopes on this course so I chip around and visualise and not just lob everything. You can chip around a lot.”

Seven players are in a tie for seventh place on five-under-par including Germany’s Leonie Harm, France’s Pauline Roussin and 2022 US Women’s Open champion Minjee Lee.

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