Czech Golfer Klára Davidson Spilková Impresses in Opening Round of AIG Women’s Open

Klára Davidson Spilková (Photo: LET/Tristan Jones).

Klára Davidson Spilková played the final major of the women’s golf season superbly, shooting 71 in the first round of the AIG Women’s Open in Walton Heath, England. A score of -1 means a tie for 19th and just three shots off the lead. Kristýna Napoleová took the rookie tax at the start of her first major in her career.

Author: pv, 10.08.2023 21:11

Spilková made a bogey on the third, but then recorded birdies on the five, six and nine on the scorecard. Another bogey came on the tenth, followed by a quieter passage with five pars in a row, before she made her fourth birdie on the sixteenth.

At the very end of the round, Spilková lost one more shot after a bogey on the 18th, but she can still be satisfied with the opening round, when the conditions on the first day of the Women’s Open were not exactly scoring. Of the 143 players who completed the first round, only 33 of them played under par.

The quality of the performance of the Czech professional number one is also evidenced by the number of big world stars who are behind her after the opening round. And that includes Nelly Korda, whose round of (73) shots (+1) was not enough for a better than tied 61st place, which is still on the edge of the cut.

However, for Spilková, this also means that she is only two shots ahead of her, so she will have to be careful in the second round as well and add another quality performance in order to play the final rounds at the tournament of the highest world category.

Napolea, who came to Surrey to enjoy her debut at a major, is far from them after the first round. She shot 79 in the first round and is tied for 134th with a score of +7.

There was a double bogey immediately on the double, which Napolea corrected with a bogey on the fifth, but further losses came on the seventh and eighth after two bogeys in a row. The 10th brought the second birdie, but the twelfth and the thirteenth again had two bogeys in a row. She then recorded one more bogey on the seventeenth and a second bogey on the eighteenth.

In the lead is the American Ally Ewing, who was the only one from the starting field who managed to play four shots under par, when she needed 68 shots to pass the first round. She will go into the second with a lead of one stroke over the five closest pursuers.

The interim results of the tournament can be found here.

Source: lpga.com