Lee-Anne Pace made four birdies on the front nine on Friday as she carded a first-round four-under-par 68 in the Ladies European Tour’s Tipsport Czech Ladies Open at the Royal Beroun Golf Club.
Pace made a bogey and another birdie on the back nine, and she was in a share of 12th with 15 other players, five strokes off the lead.
Nicole Garcia opened with a three-under 69 for a share of 27th, while Stacy Bregman was on two-under in a share of 39th. Danielle du Toit was a further shot back on one-under, Cara Gorlei was on two-over, and Gabrielle Venter was on three-over. Britney Fay Berger battled to a six-over.
Chloe Williams of Wales fired a flawless opening round of nine-under 63 to hold a two-shot lead. It was an interrupted day for the afternoon wave as play was suspended at 4.12pm (local time) due to the threat of thunder and lightning but restarted at 6.10pm with all groups completing their first round.
But the Welshwoman, who began her round on the 10th tee in the morning wave, was bogey-free on the first day. She made back-to-back birdies on holes 11 and 12 before adding further birdies on 14 and 16 to make the turn in four-under.
Williams continued her faultless round with birdies at the first and third holes before making three on the trot on holes five, six and seven to shoot her lowest round on the Ladies European Tour.
“Today was very solid,” said Williams, who also had two chip-ins. “I’m very happy to score my lowest round on the LET. It’s quite funny because I actually didn’t feel like I played my absolute best.
“I just hit it in the right places and holed a lot of putts and I made two chip shots which helps a lot. It all came together in one round.
“It’s like a clean sheet in football! It’s amazing. I’m over the moon to be bogey-free, I couldn’t ask for a better start. I have been here four times.
“Every year I get to know the course more and more. I like it a lot and feel like it suits me. It’s very scoreable, there’s lots of par-5s and I feel if you play well, you can do something like today.”
Finland’s Sanna Nuutinen and Sweden’s Caroline Hedwall were in a share of second place on seven-under-par.
