Singapore: Four major winners sit atop the leaderboard at the 2022 HSBC Women’s World Championship with Thailand’s Patty Tavatanakit a single shot clear after a flawless opening round of 68.
The 22-year-old Thai sank in five birdies to be one stroke ahead of a trio that included two-time winner Park In-bee, fellow South Korean Kim A-lim and American Danielle Kang. Top-ranked Ko Jin-young was in a big group at three-under, the South Korean recovering from a second hole double-bogey to card 69.
Ko has had a stellar season and the 26-year-old has recorded nine top-10 finishes in her last 10 starts that include five victories.
Tavatanakit said late: “Pretty confident about my game right now. More so comfortable just being on the course. I feel like I found my inner peace just being on the course, and I just enjoy it a little bit more.”
Speaking on how she found her inner peace, Tavatanakit said: “Just feel grateful, I guess. Grateful that I have a job that I like. I get to travel around the world. Most importantly I feel like I just really enjoy - so far enjoying this year a little bit more than last year.”
In her first event of 2022, World No.1 Jin Young Ko continued her streak of consecutive rounds in the 60s with a birdie at the final hole – it stands at a remarkable run of 15.
Ko commented: “I’m trying to get better to 15 rounds straight to hit 60s. And, yeah, I got birdie the last hole. It was huge birdie. And I’m looking forward to the next three days and we’ll see what happens.”
Inbee Park, a two-time champion, commented on what makes her tick at the HSBC Women’s World Championship: “I think this golf course really suits me. I think this golf course is not overly long, and that really gives me some good advantage of playing with the long hitters. And, yeah, the course is playing really good for me. I mean, it has over the years, and it is this year as well.”
Speaking on the secret of her strong start to the year, Danielle Kang said: “To be honest, I’ve been working at the UFC Performance Institute. And my entire team there has built me - they’re helping me build into another level of athlete. Like I wasn’t banking on the fact that I was going to play better golf, but I wanted to surround myself with people that were stronger than me, older than me, and faster than me.
Leading scores
67 - Patty Tavatanakit (THA)
68 - Kim A-lim (KOR), Park In-bee (KOR), Danielle Kang (USA)
69 - Angel Yin (USA), Nanna Koerstz Madsen (DEN), Lin Xiyu (CHN), Pajaree Anannarukarn (THA), Jennifer Kupcho (USA), Ashleigh Buhai (RSA), Atthaya Thitikul (THA), Brooke Henderson (CAN), Megan Khang (USA), Su Oh (AUS), Ko Jin-young (KOR), Lydia Ko (NZL), Amy Yang (KOR), Sarah Schmelzel (USA)
70 - Chun In-gee (KOR), Carlota Ciganda (ESP), Hsu Wei-ling (TPE), Caroline Masson (GER), Gaby Lopez (MEX), Lee Jeongeun (KOR), Jenny Shin (KOR), Lizette Salas (USA), Perrine Delacour (FRA), Leona Maguire (ITA).
