Lauren Walsh is best of the Irish contingent as she trails leader Patricie Mackova by five shots after the opening round of the Aramco Korea Championship.
Czechia golfer Mackova set the pace with a blistering seven-under 65, a scorecard that was blemish free.
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.”
Mackova holds a two-shot advantage on a quartet of players – Japan’s Miyu Yamashita, Australia’s Sarah Kemp, Germany’s Olivia Cowan and Lily May Humphreys from England.
Walsh sits five back on two-under par as she overcame an untidy start to move inside the top 20.
Starting on the 10th tee, the 26-year-old was one-over par after her first nine holes, but birdies at the fifth, seventh and eighth holes coming in saw her shoot up the leaderboard.
Anna Foster and Sara Byrne sit level-par after Day 1 at the New Korea Country Club.
Foster also started on the 10th tee and made a whirlwind start as she hit three birdies in her first six holes. However, she wouldn’t find another one across her round with back-to-back bogeys at the first and second, along with another at the par-five fifth, seeing her fall off the pace.
Byrne opened and closed her front nine with bogeys, and finished with one too on 18, but three birdies on her back nine left her in a decent position.
Aine Donegan had a day to forget though as despite two birdies, she finished eight-over par – her scorecard including two double bogeys.