Wind and rain no problem for Fin

BY Liz White | ALPG Tour | 2008 Women's Australian Open | Round One | 31 Jan 2008

Finland’s Ursula Wikstrom mastered the wet and windy conditions to grab a surprising one shot lead in the Australian Open being played at Melbourne’s Kingston Heath golf course.

Ranked 388 in the world, Wikstrom upstaged her more fancied opponents with a solid three under 70 and was amazed at how well she played.

“I have been mainly practicing indoors so in that way it’s a little bit of a surprise because I haven’t played at all since Dubai which was a month ago,” the 27-year-old said.

“My putter was working really well and the greens softened up with the rain.”

“My game has been feeling good but after a break you never know what will happen. I didn’t make any big mistakes.”

Wikstrom’s only notable finish to date was in 2005 where she placed joint second at the Finnish Masters. Her round today included six birdies and three bogeys.

Trailing the Fin is Queenslander Katherine Hull, New Zealand’s Sarah Nicholson and Korea’s Hee Young Park, all on two under 71. Hull said she found the going tough due to the sporadic rain which meant the wet weather gear was constantly being unpacked then repacked into the bag.

“My grips got very wet and it was pretty frustrating trying to keep everything dry,” she said.

Her round was made even more trying as the 25-year-old plays without a glove. She was forced to wear special wet weather gloves to complete her round.

“One minute we had the umbrella up then down, it was a bit of a slog out there but overall I am happy with the way I played. It wasn’t picture perfect in terms of ball striking but it was pretty good considering the conditions.”

Hull, playing with defending champion Karrie Webb and Japan’s Sakura Yokomine, started her round in the best way possible, with back to back birdies on the 453m par five 10th and the 380m par four 11th.

The 25-year-old went out in two under 34 and appeared to be cruising. After 15 holes she had raced to four under and the outright lead only to undo all her work on her third last hole, the 379m par four seventh.

“I hit my tee shot high and to the right into the rough,” she said.

“I then pulled my second shot left and then chipped on. I had a 15 foot par putt and spent too much time worrying about the line instead of the pace so I put my putt three feet past. I then just hit a bad putt and double bogeyed.

“But I’ll just go out and do some practice now and hopefully play well tomorrow.”

While Hull may lament her double bogey, her game was a lot more consistent than her playing partner, fellow Queenslander Karrie Webb.

The tournament favourite shot five birdies but blemished the card with four messy bogeys. She finished the day at one under 72 tied for third and will be hoping to play a more consistent game to set herself up for the weekend.

“Obviously it was not the nice, warm, sunny day you would like to play for your first round of the year, but I’ll take one-under – I’m pretty happy with the way things turned out,” Webb said.

“I was surprised how tough some of the pin positions were today for Thursday, so again that’s another reason I feel pretty happy with one-under and a lot of them were at the backs of the greens which, when it’s wet, made the course play that much longer.”

Joining Webb on one under is a host of players, including world number seven, Korea’s Ji-Yai Shin, fellow Australians Michelle Ellis and Lindsey Wright, rookie pro Frances Bondad and one of this country’s leading amateurs, Kristie Smith.

Tournament draw card Laura Davies struggled to a one over round of 74. The 44-year-old Brit started the day poorly with a double bogey seven on her first hole of the day, the 453m par five tenth. Her round dropped to three over immediately on the next hole when she bogeyed the 380m par four. Subsequent birdies on the sixteenth and eighteenth holes added respectability to her front nine.

A bogey just four holes later added frustration to the round but she was able to bounce back with a great birdie on the 135m par three sixth to end the day at one over.