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.<\/p>\n
Czechia golfer Mackova set the pace with a blistering seven-under 65, a scorecard that was blemish free.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
“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\u2019t. I think I hit almost every green, maybe I missed two, so that was a help for the low score,” said Mackova.<\/p>\n
“If you give yourself a lot of opportunities some [putts] will fall eventually and that\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
“I haven\u2019t had the best season; I struggled all over the summer and I switched a couple of people around me and it worked. I\u2019m very happy that it worked because the results over the summer weren\u2019t great, so I\u2019m happy it\u2019s working now.”<\/p>\n
Mackova holds a two-shot advantage on a quartet of players \u2013 Japan’s Miyu Yamashita, Australia’s Sarah Kemp, Germany\u2019s Olivia Cowan and Lily May Humphreys from England.<\/p>\n
Walsh sits five back on two-under par as she overcame an untidy start to move inside the top 20.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n