England’s Charley Hull recovers to take the lead (shared) on the first day of the Aramco Team Series at Sotogrande. Hull attributed dehydration to her withdrawal from the Pro-Am just 24 hours before the start of the tournament. However, all this was not a problem for him not to make any bogey today, achieving a -7 (65 strokes) in his first 18 holes at La Reserva.
On the other hand, American star Alison Lee joins Hull in the lead. While the Wikstrom team (Ursula Wikstrom, Krista Bakar, Elia Folch and amateur Nicolas Dalessandro) and the Lampert team (Karolin Lampert, Nicole Garcia, Jessica Karlsson and Christophe Pages) share the first place in the team category of the tournament, both with 15 under par.
Hull, at the end of the course, remarked “It was a lot of fun to play today, with such a relaxed and easy-going group. I’ve had a lot of fun. It’s been great to play with these two girls.”
“I was sick all day yesterday. I literally lost 10 pounds overnight, which is crazy. I couldn’t even see the last nine holes on the golf course, but I shot a four under par blind, so I felt I played well. I’ll probably get my manager to make me sick more often, to make low cards!”
Under a scorching heat on the Mediterranean coast, the American Alison Lee, has set the pace this morning. The former Solheim Cup player and captain of the Lee team, finished with a 7 under par (65) without any bogey, a result that has led her team (-12) to be only 3 strokes off the lead.
Speaking after his debut in Spain, Lee said: “Everything went well today. I hit the driver very well; I hit the irons well too. I missed a few putts, but overall I had a pretty good day.”
“We play individually, but knowing that I have two other girls and an amateur to have my back is really comforting and makes you feel a lot more confident when you go out to play and doesn’t make you worry too much. I’ve never played in a format like this before; I love playing in a team format and it’s a lot of fun.”
With temperatures reaching 32 degrees, both Wikstrom’s and Lampert’s teams deserved a place at the top of the standings by achieving a -15 in La Reserva in such harsh weather conditions.
Wikstrom said, “My team made it pretty easy for me because they holed all the putts and our birdies. Luckily, I also contributed a little bit for the team. We played pretty well: when someone had a bad hole, someone else covered it, and so on. So it was a good team game.”
Regarding the Lampert team’s performance, South African Nicole Garcia said, “In these tournaments it’s all about fitting in very well, and we did that. We didn’t make any bogey and our amateur can play good golf, so we were lucky. We noticed that most of the lower scores were in the morning, so hopefully going out earlier tomorrow will be good for us.”
In the individual standings, the chasing pack is Sweden’s Johanna Gustavsson and Australia’s Stephanie Kyriacou, both with 5 under par. Norway’s Maiken Bing Paulsen and Spain’s Maria Hernandez finished 4 under par, along with Lampert.
Team Hedwell, led by Caroline Hedwall, and Team Strom, captained by Linnea Strom, sit alongside Team Hull and Team Kyriacou, one behind the overnight leaders. Team Creamer sits one further back, thanks to a solid -2 from Creamer herself, who has also made her debut in the Spanish and Aramco Team Series.
The tournament has had a strong Spanish representation formed by 13 professionals who have competed with the support of the public in an unforgettable environment. In the run-up to the tournament, the local star, Ana Pelaez, who made her professional debut today, attracted a lot of attention. Pelaez finished with a card of 75 strokes (+3), while Maria Hernandez was the best Spanish player of the tournament.
After signing a card of 68 strokes (-4), Maria Hernandez said: “Today I played very solid and I have not made any mistake until the 8th hole, when I missed a very short putt, and then on the 9th I gave a second shot that was not very good. It’s a pity to have finished like that because the sensations were very good”.
“It’s a fun format, the atmosphere is different… but in the end the important thing is to make birdies. Having championships like this from time to time makes the season more enjoyable.”
The Aramco Team Series-Sotogrande starts this Thursday at La Reserva Club, Sotogrande, and ends on Saturday.
Free tickets are still available at www.aramcoteamseries.com/sotogrande. The tournament has COVID-19 protocols and complies with health authority guidelines.
For more information, visit aramcoteamseries.com.
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