Lee-Anne Pace carded a four-under-par 68 on Thursday to end the first round of the Ladies European Tour’s Andalucia Costa Del Sol Open De Espana at the Real Club de Golf Las Brisas in a share of fifth place.
Pace started her round on the 10th, and made three birdies in the first six holes she played, before she dropped a shot on the 16th. She birdies the 18th, and then, after the turn, she dropped another shot on the third. But she birdied her last two holes on the eighth and the ninth to finish up the day three shots off the lead.
In front was Sweden’s Linn Grant, who had a bogey-free seven-under-par 65 to lead by one from Kirsten Rudgeley of Australia. Liz Young of England and France’s Celine Boutier shared third on five-under, and Pace shared fifth with four other players.
One shot behind Pace in a share of 10th place was Casandra Alexander, who had a solid start with her three-under 69 coming from five birdies and two bogeys.
In a share of 20th was Nicole Garcia, who opened with a one-under-par 71, with four birdies and three bogeys.
“The wind made it trickier for sure,” said Grant. “The course is playing quite short and it’s soft, I was hitting my irons really well with that combination it made it a lot easier today than any other day. I got myself a lot of opportunities and took care of some of them.
“I enjoy playing in the wind if I play well! It can be a struggle; you can get in that loop of just messing around with it and it gets hard. I just tried to keep myself clear and take it a bit easy.
“In this area, there is a lot of Swedes and some family live here as well. It’s a good week to be back for before heading back to the cold. I have memories of two great weeks, two great events. Solheim was amazing, it’s really fun to be back and have the Tour back in Spain and be here.”
One of the highlights of the first day was Swedish star Caroline Hedwall making a hole-in-one on the par-three 16th hole.
