CLARE QUEEN SPLASHES HER WAY

TO A FIRST-ROUND 75 IN

AUSTRALIAN OPEN

FROM THE LADIES EUROPEAN TOUR WEBSITE

By BETHAN CUTLER

Finland’s Ursula Wikstrom, with six birdies and three-bogeys, took a one-stroke lead after the first round of the MFS Women’s Australian Open at Kingston Heath Golf Club in Melbourne.

The 27-year-old from Espoo shot an impressive three-under-par 70 in heavy rain on the opening morning.

Australia’s Katherine Hull, South Korea’s Hee Young Park and Kiwi Sarah Nicholson were the next best placed players, all on two-under-par 71, while the defending champion Karrie Webb was one of six players on one-under-par 72.

Weather conditions played a large part to the day’s proceedings, as rain lashed the course on the opening morning, before the sun broke through in the afternoon, accompanied by stronger winds. Temperatures were more than 10 degrees Fahrenheit lower than those of the previous day, but that didn’t bother Wikstrom, who spent most of her winter practising indoors in Finland. The mother of one fired six birdies and three bogeys in total, going out in 33 and back in level par 37. “My putter was working really well and the greens softened up with the rain,” explained Wikstrom, whose previous best finish on the Ladies European Tour was joint-second at the 2005 Finnish Masters.

“My game has been feeling good but after a break you never know what will happen. I didn’t make any big mistakes. On a couple of holes we got pretty hard rain. It’s okay, I come from Scandinavia.”

Wikstrom’s best finish in 13 starts in Europe was a tie for eighth place at the Deutsche Bank Ladies’ Swiss Open and she finished 80th on the New Star Money List in 2007. However she did give birth on 24th January last year, before coming back on Tour for the Tenerife Ladies Open in May. She is slightly surprised to be leading this week's tournament, but not without expectations.

“I am competitive. You want to keep it going,” she said.

It is pretty usual for temperatures in Finland - a country with 120 golf courses and 100,000 players - to be below freezing in winter so it was not surprising to see the slightly built Wikstrom in short sleeves at a time when the other players were in waterproofs.
Australia’s Karrie Webb, who is aiming to capture her fourth national title, summed it up: “It was not the nice, sunny day you’d like to play for your first round of the year but I’ll take one under. I am pretty happy with the way things turned out today.

“It played much longer today. Obviously it was 10 or 12 degrees cooler and damp so the ball did not go as far.”

Webb wove five birdies with four bogeys for her 72 and tied for fifth place with fellow Australians Michelle Ellis, Lindsey Wright, Frances Bondad and amateur Kristie Smith, as well as South Korean hotshot Ji-Yai Shin.

Finland’s Minea Blomqvist and English rookie Melissa Reid were also in the mix on level par 73 and tied for 11th place with Australian professional Sarah Oh and local amateur Alison Whitaker. Meanwhile England’s Laura Davies was a shot further back in a share of 15th on one-over 74.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION FROM COLIN FARQUHARSON

Clare Queen (The Carrick at Cameron House) finished the first day in joint 26th place on two-over-par 75. Clare, pictured above, bogeyed the third, fourth and sixth before giving herself a big boost with an eagle 3 at the 457yd eighth.
Turning in one-over-par 38, the Scot got back to level with a birdie at the 14th but she slipped back with bogeys at the 15th, 16th and 18th, having only a birdie 2 at the short 17th to compensate in an inward half of one-over 37.
Lynn Kenny (Archerfield Links) had no birdies in a seven-over-par round of 80. She bogeyed the second, fifth, eighth, ninth, 10th, 14th and 17th in halves of 41 and 39.

Inverness-based New Zealander Liz McKinnon had a 79 (40-39).

FIRST-ROUND CLUBHOUSE SCORES

Par 73

70 Ursula Wikstrom (Fin).
71 Katherine Hull (Aus), Sarah Nicholson (Nzl), Hee Young Park (Kor).
72 Karrie Webb (Aus), Michelle Ellis (Aus), Lindsey Wright (Aus), Ji-Yai Shin (Kor), Kristie Smith (Aus), Frances Bondad (Aus)
73 Minea Blomqvist (Fin), Melissa Reid (Eng), Sarah Oh (Aus), Alison Whitaker (Aus)
74 Lotta Wahlin (Swe), Linda Wessberg (Swe), Virginie LagoutteClement (Fra), Felicity Johnson (Eng), Joanne Mills (Aus), Anja Monke (Ger), Helen Oh (Aus), Laura Davies (Eng), Tiffany Joh (US), Emma Bennett (Aus), Karin Sjodin (Swe), Clare Choi (Aus)
75 Marianne Skarpnord (Nor), Nina Reis (Swe), Cherie Byrnes (Aus), Emma CabreraBello (Spa), Ashleigh Simon (Rsa), Amanda MoltkeLeth (Den), Laurette Maritz (Rsa), Rebecca Flood (Aus), Mi Sun Cho (Aus), Amy Yang (Kor), Jill McGill (US), Danielle Masters (Eng), Birdie Kim (Kor), Clare Queen (Sco), Carri Wood (US), Wendy Berger (Aus), MiJung Hur (Kor)
76 Rachel Duncan (Aus), Lydia Hall (Wal), Sophie Giquel (Fra), Sarah Jane Kenyon (Aus), Diana Luna (Ita), Titiya Plucksataporn (Tha), Maggie Yuan (Chn), HaNeul Kim (Kor), Nikki Garrett (Aus), Diana D'Alessio (USA), Stephanie Arricau (Fra)
77 Sharon O'Neill (Aus), Sophie Walker (Eng), Carlie Butler (Aus), Sakura Yokomine (Jpn), Tamara Beckett (Aus), Kate Combes (Aus), Ayako Uehara (Jpn), Rebecca Stevenson (Aus), Vicky Thomas (Aus), Kirsty S Taylor (Eng), JiYae Yeo (Kor), Rosemary MacDonald (Aus)
78 Karen Quinn (Aus), Rui Yokomine (Jpn), Na Yeon Choi (Kor), HeeKyung Seo (Kor), Lisa Hall (Eng), Bree Arthur (Aus), Ludivine Kreutz (Fra), Rebecca Coakley (Irl), Min-Gee Song (Kor), Eun-Hee Kim (Kor), Gwladys Nocera (Fra), Paula Marti (Spa), Kristie Newton (Aus), Tamie Durdin (Aus), Georgina Simpson (Eng), Hiromi Kamata (Jpn), Rachel Bailey (Aus), Geraldine Brown (Aus).
79 Torie O'Connor (Aus), Ellie Na (Kor), Ji-Na Lim (Kor), Louise Stahle (Swe), Marta Prieto (Spa), Stacy Lee Bregman (Rsa), Katy Jarochowicz (Aus), Melanie Holmes-Smith (Aus), Loraine Lambert (Aus), Suzie Fisher (Aus), Elizabeth McKinnon (Nzl), Sarah Kemp (Aus), Martina Eberl (Ger), Marousa Polias (Aus), Karen Pearce (Aus), Heidi McCulkin (Aus), Anna Tybring (Swe).
80 Sunny Park (Aus), Tamara Hyett (Aus), Dana Lacey (Aus), Karen Lunn (Aus), Anna Rossi (Ita), Stefanie Michl (Aut), Vittoria Valvassori (Ita), Jenny Lee (Aus), Susie Mathews (Aus), Eva Steinberger (Aut), Nikki Campbell (Aus), Stephanie Na (Aus), Kiran Matharu (Eng), Bobea Park (Kor), Johanna Westerberg (Swe), Jade Schaeffer (Fra), Yuki Sakurai (Jpn), Cecilia Nha (Aus), Danielle Montgomery (Eng), Anne Norman Hansen (Den), Lynn Kenny (Sco), Ji Won Yoon (Kor).
81 Elisabeth Esterl (Ger), Belinda Kerr (Aus), Lynne Brown (Aus), Corinne Furnell (Aus), Ran Hong (Kor), Bree Turnbull (Aus), Lynn Brooky (Nzl), Virada Nirapathpongporn (Tha), Nathalie David Mila (Fra), Vikki Tutt (Aus)
82 Whitney Hillier (Aus), Sophie Sandolo (Ita), Shani Waugh (Aus), Bettina Hauert (Ger), Tania Elosegui (Spa), Marjet van der Graaff (Ned), Beatriz Recari (Spa), Justine Lee (Aus), Mianne Bagger (Den), Melodie Bourdy (Fra), Lisa Jean (Aus)
83 Breanna Elliott (Aus), Lill Kristin Saether (Nor), Cecilia Ekelundh (Swe), Samantha Head (Eng)
84 Jane Suckling (Aus), Leah Hart (Aus), Courtney Massey (Aus)
85 Tara Shimmin (Aus), Bronwyn MullinsLane (Aus)
86 Cassandra Kirkland (Fra)
87 Karen-Margrethe Juul (Den)
91 Nicole Picken (Aus)