Pajaree Anannarukam of Thailand. Credit: Tristan Jones/ LET
World number one Lydia Ko picked up from right where she left off in 2022, blazing through her first round of professional golf in 2023 with an eight-under score on the first day of the Aramco Saudi Ladies International Presented by Public Investment Fund. Joining Ko at the top of the leaderboard is Thai golfer Pajaree Anannarukarn, who is competing in Saudi Arabia and Royal Greens Golf & Country Club for the first time.
Sitting one stroke behind the leaders is a solid Asian contingent that features world number four Atthaya Thitikul from Thailand, India’s Aditi Ashok and South Korean Jung Min Hong.
Ko took advantage of starting in the morning wave with less windy conditions, putting up a bogey-free round.
Ko said, “All in all, I putted really well out there. Most of the opportunities I had, I was able to take advantage of that, so it was that kind of a day and a nice start to the season. It’s cool to see I have an officially under-par round as a Mrs.
“I think there are plenty of holes, especially when the wind is calmer, that you can reach a couple of par-5s and be a little bit more aggressive to pin positions. The wind is such a big factor on this golf course, so when it’s playing to your advantage, you kind of want to use that. I think I felt really confident with the putter today so that when I didn’t hit the green, I wasn’t too stressed about it and felt like I could make up and down.”
Ko, who recently got married, credits the amount of golf she played during her honeymoon as why she has been able to jump right back into it.
She added, “I had a few weeks to prepare for this one, but I played a lot of golf, maybe a bit too much golf, on my honeymoon. But my husband loves golf, and that’s something that we can mutually do together, so we took advantage of that. And actually, thanks to him it made my transition into off-season practice a lot easier. Yeah, if somebody said, hey, you’re going to play eight rounds of golf over two weeks on your honeymoon I probably would’ve laughed at that person, but it became reality, and I had so much fun. Honeymoon is only once in a lifetime, so we really enjoyed it.”
Anannarukarn was on form right from the get-go, sinking in four straight birdies. The 23-year-old maintained her brilliant form throughout the rest of the morning and sank a total of eight birdies, one eagle and two bogeys for a score of 64.
Aditi Ashok of India. Credit: Tristan Jones/ LET
She said, “I was actually really in the zone starting off since the first hole. Did not expect the first birdie. It’s about like eight yards putt for birdie, and, yeah, made a really good stroke there. Just keeping a really good momentum going forward, so make four straight birdies.”
Crediting her putting for her top performance today, Anannarukarn added: “Just really tried to get the speed good enough, and it turned out great today. Really grateful for that.
“And then just again tomorrow afternoon, just try to play your game and try to just be patient.”
World number four Thitikul was again reminded of her time competing alongside Ko when they played together during the final round of the 2021 edition of the Aramco Saudi Ladies International – where Ko took the title. Much like that day, while the 19-year-old scored great, Ko managed to get one up on her.
“It’s [a] really good start of [the] 2023 season as [a] first round. Had a really good round today with Lydia and Charley, and also, she (Lydia) had a really good round, too. We both have. It kind of like reminds me of the final round of like two years ago.”
Ashok has carried her great form since the start of the year to the US$5million Aramco Saudi Ladies International Presented by PIF, after capturing the Magical Kenya Ladies Open two weeks ago and finishing the third last week at the Lalla Meryem Cup in Morocco.
She remarked, “I wasn’t in the field this week until I won, so definitely having that win and even third place last week on a tough golf course, I feel that was pretty good. This week the field is really strong, so I was excited to see how my game was. Yeah, today was a great day, still three more rounds.”
Free tickets are available for fans to catch the world’s best compete for the title and enjoy family-friendly entertainment and breathtaking views at Royal Greens Golf & Country Club. Tickets can be secured by visiting www.golfsaudi.com, where you can find more tournament information.
