Welcome to the Free Drop Sunshine Ladies Tour wrap where each day throughout the season we re-cap the performances of our former podcast guests.
Here’s all you need to know from day 1 of the Jabra Ladies Classic taking place at Glendower Golf Club.
T-20 Nicole Garcia (+3)
Nicole Garcia was the best performer on a tough day for our former guests. Yet even Garcia’s round was topsy-turvy. Beginning on the par-4 10th, Garcia carded a double-bogey and a bogey in her first three holes. Six pars and a birdie at the par-3 17th saw the three-time Sunshine Ladies Tour winner turn in two-over par 38.
A red-number to begin her inward nine was offset by a 7 at the par-5 2nd-hole. Four straight pars followed before an unfortunate bogey at the 7th-hole. A closing birdie-3 means that Garcia will begin round 2 in a nine-way tie for 20th which includes last week’s Cape Town Ladies Open champion Manon Gidali.
T-32. Cara Gorlei (+5)
After Cara Gorlei’s runner-up performance at Royal Cape last week, round one at Glendower must have been frustrating for the 25-year-old. Gorlei’s card had a colurful look to it over her first nine. Birdies at the two par-5’s on Glendower’s back-nine offset blemishes at the 10th and 14th holes respectively. Back-to-back bogeys at the 16th and 17th, however, consigned the former Arkansas Razorback to a two-over opening nine of 38.
Gorlei made a bright-start to her second-nine with a birdie at the par-4 1st. Three consecutive bogeys though left her needing to steady proceedings down the stretch. A birdie-4 at her penultimate hole, sandwiched between two further bogeys will have Gorlei eyeing an improved performance in round 2.
T-37 Ivanna Samu (+7)
Ivanna Samu’s score is certainly not an indication of just how steadily she played for 17 holes.
One-under par after four holes was the perfect start for the long-hitting Samu. Even after dropping her first shot at the 16th, she hit back immediately with a birdie-2 at the next hole to turn one-under par.
Things went awry for Samu coming in though. Bogeys at the 2nd, 3rd and 7th holes were mixed with a birdie and four pars which meant that she stood on the final tee at one-over for the day.
Calamity struck in a big way for the 22-year-old as she ran up a disastrous 10 at the par-4 9th to end the day with a 7-over 79.
If there’s a golfer who has the ability to bounce back from unfortunate setbacks though it’s Ivanna Samu.
T-40. Casandra Hall (+8)
Casandra Hall endured a tough start to her tournament and will be looking to go a few shots better on day 2.
Three bogeys and a birdie over Glendower’s opening four holes was not the start Hall would’ve been after. A quadruple-bogey 7 at the 6th had Hall reeling at six-over par before a bogey at the next compounded the damage even further.
Credit where it’s due though – she fought back valiantly. Back-to-back birdies at the 12th and 13th appeared to indicate Hall was headed for an under-par second-nine. A double-bogey 6 and a bogey at her penultimate hole dashed any hopes of such a score though as the 21-year-old ended the day tied for 40th-place.
Final Thoughts
On the whole it was a tough day out for the ladies. But given the immense talent they all possess – there is every reason to believe round 2 will be better.
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Photo: Carl Fourie/ Sunshine Ladies Tour/ Gallo Images
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