Su Oh powers to early lead at WPGA
Murray Wenzel |
Su Oh gave the men a lesson on the greens as she built an early, commanding lead in the maiden Australian WPGA Championship in Brisbane.
The new, 24-woman event is being contested alongside the Australian PGA Championship, with men and women playing in the same groups and for equal first-place prizemoney at Royal Queensland Golf Club.
Oh had a five-under round of 66 to put a gap on the field on Thursday, leaving men’s drawcard and long-time friend Min Woo Lee taking notes after their first round.
Julienne Su was in the clubhouse at one-under while Stephanie Bunque, Brianna Gill and Karis Davidson had all made early birdies in their rounds.
LPGA member Oh began her round as the red-hot favourite after Wednesday’s late scratching of COVID-19 positive Steph Kyriacou and Sarah Kemp, who will both join her on the US tour later this year.
The Victorian has fond memories of Queensland, winning the 2015 Australian Ladies Masters in just her second professional event as an 18-year-old.
“I don’t like grain (in the greens), I don’t like the heat, so I’m glad I shot a good score and a second win in Queensland would be nice,” the 25-year-old said.
“It’d be such an honour (to claim the maiden Karrie Webb Cup), it would mean a lot but I don’t want to think about it too much with three more days to go.”
Oh has played often with Lee’s sister and two-time Greg Norman Medal winner Minjee Lee, but never with the new world No.49 and defending Scottish Open champion.
“It was nice to play with the guys to see what shots they’ve got and sometimes I’m like ‘I hit it a lot straighter than them’, which is nice to know,” she smirked.
“We teed off at 6.45am … I got to the tee and it was surrounded. It was really nice to see and I saw a few kids out there.
“Maybe everyone likes to get up earlier before the heat here because I can tell you in Melbourne people wouldn’t be out there at 6.45.”
Lee endorsed the concept too.
“It was very fun, enjoyable and Su hit it pretty far; there wasn’t anything weird about it,” Lee, who shot a three-under 68, said.
“Su putted really well, I could probably get that off her.”
AAP
