Rui Kitada fired a bogey-free 66 to take the 1st-round lead at the Munsingwear Ladies Tokai Classic by a shot over Misuzu Narita, Na-Ri Lee, Na-Ri Kim, and Rumi Yoshiba, 2 over Ji-Yai Shin and Megumi Shimokawa, and 3 over a group of golfers led by Momoko Ueda.
But just as big a story as what happened on the course is who never got to it. Money-list leader Bo-Mee Lee, #2 Sun-Ju Ahn, and #7 Teresa Lu were only some of the players who never started their rounds. It's not like Kitada, whose 6th career JLPGA victory came back in 2010, is going to have a cake-walk over the weekend. Sakura Yokomine, Mi-Jeong Jeon, Miki Saiki, Ayaka Watanabe, and Kumiko Kaneda are only 4 off the pace, while last week's major winner Ai Suzuki and last season's Rookie of the Year Mamiko Higa are only 5 behind. We'll have to wait till tomorrow to see if anyone further back can move into contention, too. I'm hoping last year's money-list title-holder Rikako Morita (74) makes a big move in the right direction on moving day!
No comments:
Post a Comment