England’s Charlotte Laffar carded an opening 6-under 66 to sit tied for first after the first round of the ISPS HANDA Women’s Scottish Open. Laffar returned to the LET this year after taking a break from golf to have her two sons. Her first tournament back since November 2021 was earlier this year at the Aramco Team Series Korea in May, following a four-and-a-half-year hiatus from professional golf.
On her first round at Dundonald Links…
“It was an amazing day. Started a bogey actually, but sometimes it goes that way. You relax into it. I holed some great putts and I hit my driver the best I’ve hit it for a long, long time. Yeah, I really took advantage of that.”
On how her mindset on golf has changed since becoming a mother…
“You definitely appreciate it more. It makes the good times better. Does make the hard times or the bad times or when you miss the cut you think, can I do this? I wasted a week being with them to miss the cut. That gets a bit harder. The losses in golf are always hard. Yeah, they’ll love it when I go back and see them tonight or whatever. They’ll be so excited.”
On the course…
“It’s amazing. It’s in superb condition. It’s so green. It’s already drying out quite a lot actually. And the weather, I mean, you can’t beat the weather we’ve had. But, yeah, you can’t fault the golf course at all. It’s flawless.”
Lottie Woad delivered a stunning opening round of 5-under 67 in her professional debut, carding only one bogey to sit in tied second place with four other players.
On making her professional debut…
“It was some good, some bad. Overall pretty fair. It didn’t feel too different today. I think having all the experience I’ve had in majors and contending, gave me all I needed and didn’t really have to change much.”
On playing in a group with Nelly Korda and Charley Hull…
“It was great. A lot of crowds today, which was nice, especially teeing off so early. Everyone in our group played well, so we could feed off each other a little bit.”
What other players thought of Woad’s professional debut…
Nelly Korda: “She’s had an amazing run the last couple weeks and deserves where she’s at right now, and it’s going to be exciting to see where her career goes.”
Leona Maguire: “She’s obviously riding the crest of a wave, and I played with her first two days of Evian. She’s a great player and it’s an exciting week, her first professional start.”
Charlotte Laffar: “I mean, everybody expected it really. It’s Lottie. Come on. She’s always going to be at the top of the leaderboard. That’s what she’s done the last few weeks. She’s an incredible player. She is a lovely girl. She seems to have her head on her shoulders. Yeah, I hope she goes far because I know she will go far.”
Irish and European Solheim Cup star, Leona Maguire enjoyed a blemish-free round of 67.
On taking advantage of her early start time…
“I think you never mind being one of the first out on links. Always try and take advantage of the more benign conditions where you can. So, yeah, took advantage of them and try and build on the momentum tomorrow.
On links golf…
“I like it. I grew up playing quite a lot in our amateur days and stuff like that. Don’t get to do it often anymore. Played some golf at Ireland week and went to Portmarnock, that was nice prep. This is not the firmest but you still have to be creative with the wind and things like that. Hopefully the course will keep drying out as the week goes on and we’ll get more linksy.”
World No.1 Nelly Korda carded an impressive 4-under 68 in her very first round of the ISPS HANDA Women’s Scottish Open to sit in T7.
On her opening round at Dundonald Links…
“I capitalized on some really good holes. Played the par 5s really well today. The weather was beautiful in the morning and then progressively got a little windier, which I was expecting. But overall, very happy with my round.”
Credit: ISPS HANDA Women’s Scottish Open.
