THE Albatros course at the Le Golf National is never kind to newcomers, but Malaysia’s Ashley Lau (pic) played like a seasoned pro to finished joint 13th after the women’s first round on Wednesday.
It was no fluke as even the the game’s best struggled to master the course, one of the toughest in Europe. The world No. 311 Ashley, however, went about her business without much fuss and carded an even par 72 in the opening round.
The Malaysian can stand proud. She was tied with the likes of world No. 1 and defending champion Nelly Korda of the United States and former world No.1 Lydia Ko of New Zealand who also had 72s.
Local favourite Celine Boutier was the surprise leader. The Frenchwoman scored a runaway seven-under 65 while South African Ashley Buhai was second with four-under 68 while four players - Megane Metraux of Switzerland, Lilia Vu of the United States, Gaby Lopez of Mexico and Mariajo Uribe of Colombia - were clustered at joint third spot at two-under 70.
Ashley’s mantra before the start of the competition was simple - she had wanted to treat the Olympics like any other professional tournaments she had competed in, and that served her well.
The Bintulu-born Ashley’s driving accuracy of 75.57% was only second to Celine Borge of Norway who had finished on one-under 71.
The 22-year-old made four birdies and four bogeys and a crucial birdie in the par five 18th hole to keep alive her hopes alive of pushing for a top 20 finish.
Still, she needed a little time to adjust to the Albatros and bogeyed the third and fourth holes before regaining a shot in the fifth. The second nine started with a birdie in the 10th hole and she was in joint 10th spot until the 12th but bogey-birdie-bogey efforts in the next three rounds pegged her back .
A strong finish in the difficult final three holes, including a fine birdie in the 18th hole, was a signal that the Albatros may have eased a little after the men’s event last week.
There is still plenty of golf to play but if Ashley continues to find the fairways consistently and improves on her putting, she could well be among the top names at the end.
