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American Sarah Schmelzel, the 107th-ranked participant on this planet, finds herself in a brand new place after Spherical 1 in Singapore: the highest.
Schmelzel’s opening 4-under 68 places her in entrance by one on the HSBC Ladies’s World Championship at Sentosa Golf Membership. The one earlier time Schmelzel has slept on a lead at an LPGA occasion was on the Dow Championship with teammate Maude-Aimee Leblanc in 2022.
Schmelzel, who was a rookie in 2019, performed collegiate golf on the College of South Carolina. Over the offseason, she started working with swing teacher Chris Mayson, who helps various gamers on tour together with Alison Lee.
Mayson stated earlier this yr that Schmelzel had picked up a membership and a half of distance in a month’s time through the use of her physique extra.
“She’s very athletic,” he instructed Golfweek, “wasn’t actually utilizing her athleticism in any respect.”
Schmelzel made the flip at 1 over however turned issues round on the entrance (her second 9) with a bogey-free 31.
“I believe the situations had been fairly robust at this time,” she stated of the wind that gusted as much as 22 mph. “It was windy and the greens had been agency and quick. So simply getting my toes beneath me slightly bit.
“Just a bit little bit of self-confidence realizing that I could make birdies and simply saved telling myself that and tried to remain affected person. Fortuitously, I used to be capable of roll in on one once I made the flip and that simply opened the floodgates slightly bit.”
Linn Grant of Sweden walks from the eighth inexperienced throughout Day One of many HSBC Ladies’s World Championship at Sentosa Golf Membership on February 29, 2024 in Singapore. (Photograph by Andrew Redington/Getty Pictures)
World No. 1 Lilia Vu trails by one at 3 beneath together with Linn Grant and Esther Henseleit. Three-time main winner In Gee Chun sits two again in a bunch of 5 gamers at 2 beneath.
Jin Younger Ko, who has received the previous two editions of the HSBC, opened with a 71.
Alison Lee, the most popular participant in golf to finish the 2023 season, obtained off to a shaky begin in her first spherical of 2024. Lee, considered one of three gamers who shot 79, suffered a canine chunk earlier this yr that left her hospitalized and delayed her begin.
Scores had been excessive at Sentosa, the place greater than half the sphere failed to interrupt par. Actually, 10 gamers shot 77 or increased. The Spherical 1 scoring common was 73.333, greater than three strokes increased than final week’s opening spherical common in Thailand.
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