Olivia Kline’s sparkling attacking flair has given her a cosy early lead in the Australian Girls’ Amateur Championship in Adelaide.
The Melburnian was the only golfer under-par on the demanding Tea Tree Gully layout today – but her three-under-par 70 was anything but routine as she built a three-shot gap after the first of four rounds.
Kline, 17, of Victoria Golf Club, extraordinarily made three bogeys and a double-bogey, yet offset them with a brilliant attacking barrage around the long course.
She made five birdies – on the 5th, 7th, 8th, 15th and 17th holes – and threw in an eagle on the par-five 10th hole for good measure.
The Victorian captain in next week’s teams event, Kline leads Malaysia’s Ashley Lau Jen Wen by three strokes, with Queenslander Kirsty Hodgkins and South Australian Cassidy Evreniadis another shot back after each fired a one-over 74.
Pre-tournament fancies Becky Kay and Karis Davidson, both of Queensland, each fired 75 to be five back, but still in touch, while defending champ, Victoria’s Kono Matsumoto has work to do after her opening 79.
At the other end of the scale, a score of 92 might not immediately set hearts racing, but a closer inspection of Sophie Yip’s score might change the perspective.
Yip, of New South Wales, is just 10 years old and in her first national girls’ championship – but you can bet it won’t be her last.