American Lauren Coughlin reeled off five birdies in nine holes to seize a one-stroke lead after Thursday’s first round of the Canadian Women’s Open.
Coughlin, seeking her first LPGA Tour triumph, fired a four-under-par 68 at Earl Grey Golf Club in Calgary to grab the early lead in windy conditions.
Australians Hannah Green and Minjee Lee, Thailand’s Ariya Jutanugarn and American Jennifer Kupcho shared second on 69.
World No 38 Coughlin had her best finishes so far this year at Majors, sharing third at the Chevron Championship and placing fourth two weeks ago at the Evian Championship.
“Pretty much ever since Evian I’ve been hitting the ball extremely well. To keep it going even in an off week felt really good,” Coughlin said. “It’s just trying to be myself and have fun and then see what I shoot.”
Coughlin parred the back nine but birdied the par-five 1st and 4th holes then birdied the par-three 5th before her lone bogey at the 6th. She answered with birdies at the 8th and par-three 9th holes.
“It was a lot windier than I was expecting, so just had to stay super patient in the beginning,” Coughlin said.
“Kind of started getting some putts dropping. It was tough out there for sure, but I hit a lot of really good shots and a lot of good putts.
“Started making a bunch of 12- to 15-footers. That’s always good.”
Ariya, who won the event at Calgary in 2016, reeled off three birdies in a row starting at the par-five 14th then made back-to-back bogeys. She followed with birdies at the par-five 4th and par-four 6th holes.
“Today I just play no expectation because like it’s really windy when we start,” she said. “Especially like first 12 holes so hard. I think when I play without expectations, everything starts to get better.”
Green birdied the 5th and 6th holes but followed a birdie at the par-five 14th with a bogey at the par-five 16th, answering with a birdie at the par-three 17th to seize a share of second.
“I thought the scores would be lower because I thought the par-fives were quite generous,” Green said. “But playing in this wind this afternoon was tough. We experienced some of the highest winds on some of the tougher holes.
“It was difficult out there. It was pretty cold towards the middle of our round. Just super happy to finish under par.”
Sharing sixth on 70 were New Zealand’s Lydia Ko, Americans Gigi Stoll and Alison Lee and South Koreans Ryu Hae-ran, Jenny Shin and Choi Hye-jin.
South Africa’s Reto Paula carded a 76 that included three birdies, three bogeys, and two double-bogeys.
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