Anna Foster was in the first group out and made the most of her early start to shoot a four-under 67 and get back in the clubhouse as the baking afternoon sun was reaching its strongest at the VP Bank Swiss Ladies Open.
The Elm Park woman turned up the heat herself on the front nine, eagling the third and adding further birdies at seven and nine to make the turn at -4. It was less eventful on the back nine, with a bogey on 10 and a birdie on 17 with seven pars, but it gave her the clubhouse lead and left her inside the top 10, sharing ninth, at day’s end.
Foster’s was the outstanding round by a distance from the five Irish in the field. Annabel Wilson, making her first LET start since May, was next best at one-over par and sharing 66th, with Sara Byrne (+3, T97), Aine Donegan (+5, T113) and Olivia Mehaffey (+6, T120) all needing to porduce something special in Friday’s second round to earn weekend tee times.
Kajsa Arwefjall continued her fine form, firing a round of 64 (-7) in the sweltering conditions to lead Spanish duo Luna Sobron Galmes and Amaia Latorre by one shot.
Having finished T10 at last week’s PIF London Championship, the Swede kept the birdies coming at Golfpark Holzhäusern carding eight red numbers and dropping just one shot to move to the top of the leaderboard.
The scorecard came courtesy of some pinpoint approach play as Arwefjall was left with tap-in birdies at the 11th, 12th and 13th on day one in Switzerland.
“It was just very fun out there,” the 26-year-old said. “I was hitting it very well – hit a lot of fairways and gave myself a lot of opportunities for birdies. I made them too which was great! I had a birdie putt on 18 to actually shoot my best ever score but it went too far right. Overall it was fun to shoot seven-under.”
Arwefjall, currently 12th on the Ladies European Tour (LET) Order of Merit, is no stranger to Golfpark Holzhäusern having finished T2 here last year as Alice Hewson claimed a five-shot victory.
“It’s playing a little bit different from last year,” the Swede explained, also a runner-up at the MCB Ladies Classic – Mauritius earlier this year. “The fairways are a little bit firmer so you have to think a little bit differently off the tee. The greens are really receptive though so you’re able to fire it right at the pins.”
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