Lotta Wahlin shoots 66 to lead on day 1 of the Omega Dubai Ladies Masters at the Emirates Golf Club
The 28-year-old from Sweden mixed seven birdies with a lone bogey over the Majlis Course to go one shot clear of Wales’ Becky Brewerton and seven of Michelle Wie, the highest ranked player in the field.
Linda Wessberg of Sweden, Minea Blomqvist (Finland), Julieta Granada (Paraguay) and Stacy Lee Bregman (South Africa) were tied for third on a 68 on a sunny day which saw Britain’s all-time great Laura Davies stumble to a 75 while Melissa Reid signed off with a level-par 72, two shots behind US teenage sensation Alexis Thompson.
It was Wahlin who held centre-stage on the opening day of the season-ending Ladies European Tour event, promoted and organized by golf in DUBAi.
With her father Matts on the bag, Wahlin started at the 10th and picked up shots at the 12th and 13th, before dropping a stroke on the par-four 16th. She then reeled off birdies at the second, fourth, sixth, seventh and ninth holes.
“I’m so happy. I finally had a good round, finally able to make all the putts. I’m just so happy,” said Wahlin, who is playing her first full year on the tour after a cancer scare.
She won two titles in Turkey and Wales in 2008 but at the Omega Dubai Ladies Masters two years ago, she received a telephone call from her doctor to inform her that a mole on her collar bone was actually skin cancer.
She hardly played on the LET in 2010, sticking to the Swedish Tour in cooler climes, but returned this year, making seven cuts from 14 tournaments played with a season-best tie for 13th at the Sanya Ladies Open.
She revealed that she felt like a rookie on tour this year with so many new players having emerged in a short space of time.
“There were so many players, and the Swedish tour is a very good tour, but it’s still a big difference to here, so it’s been taking a while to get used to it,” she said, adding that Dubai would be a great place to make a come-back and earn her first top ten of the year.
Brewerton of Wales was a stroke back on five under par after carding six birdies and one bogey. The Welsh 29-year-old said that she had few expectations after suffering from a bout of gastroenteritis in India last week and spent Monday in bed.
“I think it was just a different attitude. Last week I think I probably over prepared, practiced too much, got a bit tired and then actually got sick at the end of the week, whereas actually this week I did nothing since I wasn’t feeling too well and that kind of relaxed me.”
America’s Wie, who is ranked 17th in the world, had to endure what she called a frustrating day at work. “I just felt like it was just one of those days where nothing really went in and nothing kind of went my way.”
Local amateur Sana Tufail, who plays off plus one handicap, showed flashes of brilliance to shooting a solid one-over-par 73.
“It was a relatively steady, consistent round,” said the 15-year-old prodigy from Abu Dhabi. “I started with a bogey on the 10th hole, so it wasn’t the greatest start, but I chipped in for par on the 11th and after that fairly eventful start, managed to keep my game going.
“I got back to even with a birdie on the 13th, and dropped a shot on the 9th, my last hole, but I can’t really complain with the round after that start,” said Tufail, who picked up shots on the seventh and the 13th.
“On the 13th (540-yard par-five), I hit a driver down the fairway, a good three-wood and then I pitched it to about 18 feet left of the flag and held the putt for birdie. That was a big relief, because it got me back to level par for the tournament.
Another local amateur Lindsay Brown, who plans to turn professional soon after this tournament, signed off with a 77 despite picking up three shots in four holes, starting from the 15th.
Three bogeys and a double bogey on the front nine, however, undermined her efforts.
