Malene Jorgensen surges to the top after first round of Raiffeisenbank Prague Golf Masters
Malene Jorgensen of Denmark gained an early lead in the first round of the Raiffeisenbank Prague Golf Masters in Czech Republic and kept the advantage until the culmination of the round at the scenic Albatross Golf Club. Starting off with the front nine,
Jorgensen pulled in a dazzling eagle at par-four, 4th and moved over to card two more birdies before making the turn.
Overjoyed with confidence, she reeled three more birdies on the back nine before falling for the lone bogey at par-four, 17th. She is now leading the tournament one shot clear of runner-up, Klara Spilkova.
Jorgensen, who had her coach, Thomas Levet working as her caddie, said, “My putter was very hot today so a very nice round.” Jorgensen later admitted that having Levet on the bag was an added advantage. The 25-year-old from Odense added, “I have struggled
a little bit with my driver and I hit it really good today. I have my coach with me this week and he’s really nice.”
Spilkova, the local heartthrob, still in search of her first win on the tour, pulled in an impressive five-under, 67, on the opening day to settle for an outright second. Her round included six birdies and one bogey. Spilková, who is known on tour as a fantastic
putter said, “I’m so happy. It was really nice with Laura Davies and Linda Wessberg. They are really good players and I’m really happy. It was a lot of people and really nice. I think you must be a really good putter because they are big greens and really
difficult.”
The young Prague native is in her rookie year on the tour and has played eight events so far with three top-ten finishes. In case the 16-year-old Splikova goes all the way to win the title, she will become the second youngest player on the tour to do that.
A group of five players are tied for the third further down the leaderboard including Caroline Masson, Felicity Johnson, Sophie Giquel-Bettan, Nikki Garrett and Kaisa Ruuttila with their scores of four-under, 68. Laura Davies opened up with a humble score
of two-under, 70, and was apparently quite impressed with the facilities on the course.
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