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Veteran Karrie Webb pulled out one of her great rounds overnight to lead the Women’s Scottish Open at Dundonald Links.
Webb, 42, has had a quiet year on the LPGA Tour but in tough conditions with wind and rain she rolled in six birdies on the back nine to take the lead by a shot with her 65. Her run included five consecutive birdies from the 11th.
The Australian did not have the luxury of a morning tee time. Warming up, she felt, like almost everyone, that Cristie Kerr’s 66 would be difficult to match.
“When we were warming up and our first few holes, obviously it was really cold and really windy,” Webb said. “I looked at the scoreboard and saw that Cristie Kerr shot 6-under, and I was like, what course did she play today?
“Then I sort of really hung in there through the front nine and made a nice birdie on 9 to turn at 1-under, and then just really started swinging at it well and hitting it quite close and had some good birdie chances and made the most of them.”
Webb has not had a top 10 finish on the LPGA Tour this year, her world ranking slipping to 105th.
She has won 41 LPGA Tour tournaments in her career, and more than $US20 million in prizemoney.
Webb’s nearest-chaser is Kerr at 66, while a group of players including former world No. 1 Inbee Park are at 69, on a day when scores were quite high.
Fellow-Australian Su Oh also started nicely with a one-over par 73, while Minjee Lee began with a 74.