Kirsty S Taylor sets Madrid pace
with a 67 (only 25 putts)

FROM THE LADIES' EUROPEAN TOUR WEBSITE
England’s Kirsty S Taylor shot six-under-par 67 to lead by a stroke after the first round of the Madrid Ladies Masters today.
The 29-year-old from Overton near Basingstoke in Hampshire carded seven birdies and one bogey in glorious weather at Casino Club de Golf Retamares.
She finished the day one ahead of Catriona Matthew and the Spanish duo of Paula Marti and Tania Elosegui.
The 2002 LET rookie of the year, Taylor hopes to improve on her career-best finishes of third at the 2002 Wales WPGA Championship of Europe and joint third at the 2006 Tenerife Ladies Open.
Along with the other 39 players in the select field, she is gunning for the first prize of €100,000 at the final LET event of the year in Europe.
“I feel like I’m striking the ball really well this year. One day hopefully it will fit into place,” said Taylor, whose best finish this year was a tie for fourth at the ABN AMRO Ladies Open in the Netherlands.
“It’s been a bit of an up and down season. I feel like I’ve played really well but not quite finished it off. I’m happy though; it could be a lot worse. I am very pleased because I just played very steady today.
"I didn’t miss many fairways or many greens and tried to keep it going. For the first time, I’ve had 25 putts in a round, which is pretty exciting for me.”
Taylor chipped in from a bunker to save par at the first hole, and then birdied the third, seventh, eighth and ninth going out, with one bogey at the fourth. She came back in three under par after further birdies at the 10th, 15th and 18th.
Paula Marti, the 2002 order of merit winner, was hot on her heels after firing eight birdies and three bogeys. The two-time LET champion from Barcelona is hoping to build on her seven top ten finishes so far this season.
“Today was really solid and I hit it really close, which was the key. My birdie putts were short ones. I’ve been practising those putts a lot and I think I am getting more consistent in making them,” said the 28-year-old.
Fellow Spaniard Tania Elosegui continued her run of recent form after two joint runner-up finishes in her last three events. The 26-year-old from San Sebastian tied for second in France last week as well as in Norway a fortnight earlier.
She was delighted to have birdied four of her opening five holes and after dropping two shots at the sixth and ninth holes, finished strongly with birdies at the 10th, 11th and 18th.
“I liked the course last year and I like it again this year; five-under is quite a good start,” said Elosegui, who is a third year tour player.
“I made some good birdies at the beginning. Towards the end I was not hitting great shots but I hit the green and made two putts for par and got a two-putt birdie on 18 so I am very happy with five-under.”
South Korea’s Amy Yang, 19, who has won twice in 2008, at the HypoVereinsbank Ladies German Open and the Scandinavian TPC, is lying fifth on four-under 69. A group of six players share sixth on 70 - Johanna Westerberg of Sweden, Felicity Johnson and Laura Davies from England, Spain’s Carmen Alonso and the Danish duo of Lisa Holm Sorensen and Iben Tinning.

COLIN FARQUHARSON'S SCOTSWATCH:
Catriona Matthew looked a class act with a bogey-free round of five-under-par 68. She birdied the long third and par-4 fourth on her way to the turn in two-under-par 34. Coming home she birdied another long hole, the 10th, as well as the par-4 11th and 14th for three-under 34 back.
Clare Queen had a disappointing day and is sharing the bottom rung on the scoreboard with an 80.
Clare had four birdies on her card - at the fifth, short ninth, long 10th and 15th - which should have formed the basis of a respectable score.
Instead she dropped shots at regular intervals and had two double bogeys, a 7 at the long seventh and a 5 at the short 16th. A horrendous finish of bogey-double bogey-bogey saw her home in 41.