It was a solid start on Thursday for South Africa’s Nicole Garcia in the first round of the Ladies European Tour’s KPMG Women’s Irish Open at Dromoland Castle as she carded a four-under-par 68 for a share of 13^th.

Garcia led a solid South African start with an eagle, five birdies, a bogey and a double-bogey to be three strokes off the lead. Also starting well was Casandra Alexander with a two-under-par 70 for a share of 27^th, Monique Smit at one-under in a share of 44^th together with Lejan Lewthwaite. Stacy Bregman was on one-over together with eSwatini’s Nobuhle Dlamini in a share of 77^th.

Garcia started her round on the 10^th, and picked up birdies on 11 and 12. The 13^th and 14^th weren’t as kind o her, with a double-drop on 13 and a bogey on 14. But she righted the ship with a birdie ahead of the turn on 18 to regain some momentum, and she made it count with a superb front nine. She followed a string of five pars with an eagle on the sixth and a birdie on seven. She rounded things off with a closing birdie on the ninth.

The lead was shared by Alexandra Swayne of the US Virgin Islands and Lina Boqvist of Sweden at seven-under-par. They led by one from Annabel Dimmock of England, the Czech Republic’s Klara Spilkova and France’s Anna-Lise Caudal.