Lee-Anne Pace made five birdies and two bogeys on Friday in the first round of the Ladies European Tour’s Ladies Italian Open at Golf Nazionale outside Rome.
It was a solid opening nine for the South African as she made two birdies without dropping a shot on the front nine. She picked up another on the 12th, but then she made bogeys on the 14th and 17th. She sandwiched the bogey on 17 with birdies on 16 and 18.
She ended up three shots off the lead in the 54-hole tournament. Up front were Kirsten Rudgeley of Australia, Spain’s Fatima Fernandez Cano, and Tiffany Arafi of Switzerland after the trio all opened with rounds of six-under-par 66. They led by one from Diksha Dagar of India.
Czechia’s Sara Kouskova was in fifth on four-under par. Six players shared sixth on three-under par to round out the top-10. This group included South Africa’s Pace, Germany’s Leonie Harm, Austria’s Sarah Schober, Switzerland’s Kim Metraux, as well as American duo Katherine Muzi and Olivia Schmidt.
Cara Gorlei carded a two-under-par 70 for a share of 12th.
Casandra Alexander and Danielle du Toit were on two-over in a share of 59th while Nicole Garcia was on four-over. Britney Fay Berger was on six-over and Stacy Bregman was on seven-over.
