Great crowds have gathered for the first round of the 2014 Bing Lee Fujitsu General Women’s NSW Open. From early morning a large crowd followed the group with England&aposs Laura Davies, Minjee Lee, Australia s leading amateur from WA, and NSW&aposs Rebecca Artis.
There was a wardrobe malfunction on the last when Rebecca Artis&apos golf bag got caught in the caddy s bib. It took the efforts of three caddies and players Rebecca Artis and Laura Davies to resolve the issue before they putted out on the 18th.
There is a strong international presence at the top of the leaderboard. WA&aposs Kristie Smith, one of the early starters posted a score of -7 and remains clubhouse leader into round two. Spain&aposs Mireia Prat and France&aposs Alexandra Vilatte are two shots behind on -5. There are six players on -4 including Australians Nikki Campbell, Minjee Lee and Stephanie Na as well as England s Hannah Burke and Felicity Johnson, and Beth Allen from the United States. Minjee Lee is continuing her form after winning the Australian Amateur last week. Her score of -4 is the best of the amateurs in the field. The course is in fantastic condition at Oatlands GC. Course staff have worked hard in the lead up to this event. The weather was not too kind in previous weeks which has made it challenging, but the ongoing work has received great praise from the players. Joanna Klatten of France complimented the greens at Oatlands and mentioned that players from Europe enjoy playing in ALPG events as the standard of the courses are exceptional. Forty players beat par in today s round. Round two promises to be exciting with the top sixty players plus ties making it to round three.
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