Lauren Walsh opened with a two-under-par round of 70 to lie tied for 16th after the opening round of the LET’s Aramco Korea Championship where Patricie Mackova leads after going low with a 65.
Walsh is currently sixth reserve for next week’s Buick LPGA Shanghai, so is hoping for a slew of withdrawals, but she’s making the most of travelling to the far east though she was slow out of the blocks on Thursday morning. A bogey on the par-5 13th – her fourth – and another on the par-4 18th after making her first birdie of the day on 17 saw her make the turn at one-over.
She remained on that number until the par-5 fifth where she recorded her second birdie, then added another pair back-to-back on seven and eight to reach -2 for the day and she ended it tied for 16th and five off the lead but just two off the top six.
On a heavily-bunched leaderboard, Sara Byrne and Anna Foster are next best of the Irish at level-par and sharing 41st. Byrne was in the first group our off the first tee and made two early bogeys before battling her way into red figures with three birdies on the back nine before closing out with a bogey on 18.
Foster began on 10 and her round was contrasting as she birdied three of her first six and turned at three-under before dropping shots on one, two and five and parring her way home.
It was a day to forget for Aine Donegan who struggled to an eight-over 80 and will need to produce a round in the low 60s on Friday if she’s to have any chance of making the cut with 68 players currently at +1 or better.
At the top of the leaderboard, Mackova went bogey-free, rolling in birdies on her second, third, eighth, ninth, 13th, 15th and 18th holes at New Korea Country Club to finish on seven-under-par.
The 25-year-old equalled the course record set by Seojin Park in 2025, and it was also the lowest round of Mackova’s career.
“I didn’t feel much special; I just hit my fairways and hit my greens and made myself a lot of opportunities for birdies. Some fell and some didn’t. I think I hit almost every green, maybe I missed two, so that was a help for the low score,” said Mackova.
“If you give yourself a lot of opportunities some [putts] will fall eventually and that’s what happened to me today. I hit a lot of pin positions and the putt on nine was just a lucky one. It had good pace and I hope it would go in but that was not much about me.
“I haven’t had the best season; I struggled all over the summer and I switched a couple of people around me and it worked. I’m very happy that it worked because the results over the summer weren’t great, so I’m happy it’s working now.”
Four players are in a share of second place with Japan’s Miyu Yamashita, Australia’s Sarah Kemp, Germany’s Olivia Cowan and England’s Lily May Humphreys all on five-under-par.
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