A new face appeared in the mix at a women’s Major, as 16-year-old Eila Galitsky – who holds dual Thai and Canadian nationality – opened the Chevron Championship at Carlton Woods in Houston with a two-under-par 70.
It put her at the business end of affairs as the event bedded in at its new home and in its new slot in the LPGA Tour calendar.
Galitsky, who lives in Thailand and also has citizenship thanks to her Toronto-born father, earned her spot in the field after winning last month’s Asia-Pacific Championship, signed her card like a seasoned-professional and very much at home, as her first round score left her three shots behind clubhouse leader Peiyun Chien of Taiwan.
Unfortunately for Stephanie Meadow, her hopes of contending in the season’s first Major were derailed from an early juncture: in a rollercoaster round of five-over-par 77, the Northern Irishwoman had four birdies, six bogeys and a hugely costly triple-bogey.
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That so-called “snowman” – an eight – came on the Par 5 fourth hole and although she sought to salvage matters with a couple of birdies to follow, on the sixth and the eighth, turning in two-over 38, Meadow’s fightback was scuppered by a hat-trick of bogeys from the 12th that saw her plunge down the leaderboard.
Chien – who hit 13 of 14 fairways and found 15 of 18 greens in regulation – had no such woes, producing a fine opening round of six birdies and a lone bogey which came on the first hole.
Ranked 189th in the Rolex world rankings, the 32-year-old has been on the LPGA Tour since 2017 and is still looking for a breakthrough tour win but showed fine form in a fourth-place finish in last week’s Lotte Championship.
For world number one Lydia Ko, it proved a frustrating round of 71 – four birdies, three bogeys – but she was at least happy that she can sharpen up going forward.
“It wasn’t my sharpest, but to start off at under par I think is a good way to start this week. I think there were a lot of positives, more positives than I thought,” she said.
“I wasn’t the most confident going into today, so to start off like this, I think there’s a lot of good things to take, and hopefully I’m going to take all the good for the next few days and take the not-so-good stuff and polish it up a little bit.”
American Marina Alex posted a 68 to lie one shot behind clubhouse leader Chien while European Solheim Cup players Carlota Ciganda and Georgia Hall were among those who opened with 70s.
“There’s a lot of golf left. I’m just happy with my opening round, there’s a long way to go,” said Hall, who continued her good form of late.
On the PGA Tour, in the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, Matt Fitzpatrick – winner of last week’s Heritage Classic – continued his good form in teaming up with his brother Alex to share the early clubhouse lead in the only team event on the circuit.
The Fitzpatricks signed for an opening 62, 10-under-par, and were joined on that mark by American Keith Mitchell and South Korea’s Sungjae Im and also by David Lipsky and Aaron Rai in a first round which featured a best ball fourball component.
