(RACV Royal Pines Resort, Gold Coast)
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Cherie Byrnes, Katherine Hull, Nikki Campbell and amateur Rebecca Flood lead the Australian charge after the first round of the ANZ Ladies Masters. They all fired rounds of 3-under par 69 to be two off the pace heading into Friday.
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Welsh golfer Becky Brewerton grabbed a share of a four-way first round lead at the ANZ Ladies Masters on the RACV Royal Pines Resort. Along with South Africa&aposs Lee-Ann Pace, Norway&aposs Marianne Skarpnord and Korea&aposs Il Hee Lee opened with five-under-par 67s, upstaging the likes of world No.2 Yani Tseng, who shot 71, world No.5, Ji-Yai Shin who had 69 and the six-time Masters champion Karrie Webb, who fired a 2-under par 70.
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rnBrewerton, a Solheim Cup player shared pole position after reeling off five birdies over the back nine of which she started on. She recovered from a double bogey six at the second hole with back-to-back birdies for an inward total of 37, even par. The 2007 Ladies English Open champion is making her fourth appearance at RACV Royal Pines Resort where she shot an opening round of 66 in 2007 before finishing tied for eighth behind Webb.
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rn“This is one of my favourite courses and I’ve done quite well here. I’ve got good memories and it suits my game well. If you can drive it long and straight you’ve got a real advantage,” Brewerton said.
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rnBrewerton recorded eight top ten finishes last season and was 15th on the New Star Money List for the third time running. She has been working hard over the winter in an attempt to bring her game up to the next level and has been put through her paces by her new fitness trainer Steve Bond. She cited a stronger mental approach as the key to overcoming the double bogey she took after snap hooking her ball into the root of a tree.
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rn“I think before if I had made a mistake like that I would have given myself too hard a time and ended up on one or two under when I should have been at least five under. In situations like that the work I have been doing has definitely helped,” she said.
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rnThe 22-year-old Skarpnord equalled Brewerton’s 67 with three birdies on the front nine and two on the back. Her best finish was runner-up to world No.4 Suzann Pettersen at the AIB Ladies Irish Open in July last year.
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rnPace, who will turn 28 later this month, was the only leader to have played in the breezier, but warm, afternoon conditions. Her best finish on tour was a tie for fourth at the SAS Ladies Masters in Norway last year.
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rnLee, another talented player from the Korean Ladies Professional Golf Association (KLPGA), was runner-up to Shin in the Woori Ladies Tournament early last year. She started her round at the 10th and turned in 32 before picking up two more birdies coming home. She is known as one of the dragon ladies having been born in the year of the dragon. Like many of her generation her idol is Se Ri Pak.
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Photo Becky Brewerton courtesy of Anthony Powter.