JAPAN’S AYAKA Furue fired a seven-under-par 65, closing with back-to-back birdies to seize a two-stroke lead after Thursday’s opening round of the LPGA Tournament of Champions.

Meanwhile, Ireland’s Leona Maguire finished the day tied for 22nd on even par.

Furue’s bogey-free 18 holes at Lake Nona in Orlando gave her the top spot with Mexico’s Gaby Lopez and Sweden’s Maja Stark sharing second in the opening event of the 2024 LPGA Tour campaign.

“All of my play today, that was really fantastic for me,” Furue said. “This course is really difficult. Not only my shot but also my putt was really good today.

“I think my putt was kind of excellent for me today. I could make a lot of birdies and get closer to the hole and that’s the point.”

Furue, an eight-time winner on the Japan Tour, qualified for the event with her victory at the 2022 Women’s Scottish Open. She had nine top-10 LPGA finishes last year, the best a runner-up effort at the LPGA Match-Play.

“Last year I think I played well so I just want to keep it going this year,” Furue said. “Just keep going on, just have fun tomorrow and just not think about the tournament and everything.”

Furue birdied the par-5 second and par-4 third holes, added another at the par-3 sixth and began the back nine with a birdie. She added another at 14 before her closing pair.

Lopez, who was married last month, had a honeymoon in Spain, Egypt and on safari in Africa with a finish in Mexico, calling it a “dream come true.”

Her back-nine start was nearly as special with six birdies in her first eight holes. After bogeys at six and seven, she closed her round with a birdie at the par-5 ninth.

“Sometimes when you come with low expectations you kind of relax a little bit,” Lopez said. “But I’ve been hitting my irons.

“Last six months we had really good feelings and I hit probably 17 greens today. Just giving lots of opportunities, and it comes to I think the mental preparation, just relaxing a little bit more than past years.”

Stark, another back-nine starter, birdied three of four par-5 holes. Her six birdied more than offset her lone bogey at the 12th.

“I can see the results from my off-season work, so that’s been really nice, with the irons and stuff,” Stark said.

Lopez reached the field by winning the 2022 Dana Open while Stark qualified by winning the 2022 Handa World Invitational in Northern Ireland. Stark also won a Ladies European Tour event last year in Morocco.

Americans Ally Ewing and Danielle Kang shared fourth on 68 while a pack on 69 included New Zealand’s Lydia Ko, Canada’s Brooke Henderson, Australia’s Grace Kim, South African Ashleigh Buhai and Americans Andrea Lee, Alexa Pano and Rose Zhang.

Meanwhile, at the American Express Championship at La Quinta, California, Shane Lowry enjoyed a promising start as he finished the day on a five-under-par 67.

The action is ongoing at the time of writing, but American Rico Hoey currently leads, four shots ahead of Lowry on nine-under-par.

– © AFP 2024