‘I’ve been playing well all year really, after losing much of last year to injury. I came back with a fresh set of eyes’

Since turning pro in 2007, Lydia Hall has, more often than not, flattered to deceive. Despite promising much when she began, the 28-year-old Wales golfer has never quite managed to live up to that early spark.
Yesterday, in the opening round of the inaugural Qatar Ladies Open on the pristine Doha Golf Club course, it was Hall who grabbed the limelight after a solid bogey-free round of 67 to share the lead with Noora Tamminen of Finland, who too returned a similar bogey-free five-under-par total.
A stroke behind lie the Scottish-Swedish duo of Kylie Walker and Anna Nordqvist of Sweden — Walker completing her back nine with a birdie-birdie-birdie flourish.
“I think I played really solid out there today. The conditions were great, I think I hit 17 greens in regulation and got my putter going throughout the middle part of the round, so I am definitely happy with my play,” said Hall, who’s currently ranked a distant 472 in the world.
“I’ve been playing well all year really, after losing much of last year to injury. I came back with a fresh set of eyes, and my body feels good. I’ve been focusing on playing rather than on technical things and it looks to be working fine. I hope it continues this way over the next three days,” she added.
The weather was perfect for the better part of the opening day of the first ever Ladies European Tour (LET) event in Qatar, barring a sudden shower as dusk set in which could make the conditions a bit tougher and challenging in the next rounds.
Hall set the pace right from the start with a birdie on the par-five opening hole. There were further birdies on the fourth, 13th, 14th and 16th while she went par on the rest of the holes to complete a satisfying day for the 28-year-old from Pencoed, who missed nine months of her 2015 season due to a knee surgery to her anterior cruciate ligament.
Co-leader Tamminen is another player who has been struggling with injury. After working hard to overcome a back problem, the 26-year-old is now looking for her maiden victory on the tour. She too opened with a birdie, with further gains on the eighth, 10th, 15th and 16th.
“I felt really confident and calm this morning. My long game was super good and I hit all the greens. I had some bad drives but they weren’t that bad, so it was a steady round overall,” Tamminen, who represented Finland at the Rio Olympic Games in August, said. “I just want to enjoy the game and take no pressure. I really like playing in the Middle East. Everything is so well-organised here. I really like the Doha course.”
Walker had a sedate front nine, where a bogey on the fifth slightly spoiled her par round, but was unstoppable on the back nine with five birdies, including three in a row from the 16th to 18th to sign out with a flourish.
“Hole 16 is a short par-4 so I just got it on the front edge and two-putted. I hit it in close on 17 and holed a good seven-eight footer. Then the last, I managed to play it in three because the wind was hurting but I holed a good 15-footer,” said Walker.
“We’ve got two great tournaments to finish here and in Dubai, and we had Abu Dhabi as well. To finish in the Middle East like this is great and this event is an awesome addition. It’s our first time here and they’ve put on a great show for us. They are really looking after us well so I’m just enjoying it,” added the 30-year-old Scot.
Swede Nordqvist reached here only on the eve of the tournament, and despite her lack of practice, played a good opening round that was laced with five birdies and a bogey.
“It was a little interesting as I hadn’t seen the course before and had a local caddie to show me around. I played great today and I’m very happy with a four-under. I’ve been playing well this year. I gave myself a couple of bad clubs today but I can only blame myself. It was just nice out there. The course is playing fine and quick, I think we finished in just a little more than four hours which is great. It was fun and I had a good time out there. I learned a bit of the course today so I hope it will get better for me in the coming rounds,” the World No. 14 said.
“I think it’s a great golf course, I really do. There are a couple of small dog legs and you’re trying to cut the corners off the tee. The rough is not where you want to be on this course, it’s very unpredictable, so I feel I’ll have a better idea for the lines and lay-up areas. I short-sided myself a little on the 18th, a little too far back… The greens are a little slow though but that makes you aggressive and hit the putts firmly. I like this place, I think it’s a great layout and I look forward to playing the next three days,” she added.
Elsewhere in the 108-strong field, Connie Chen made history of her own with a hole-in-one on the par-3 13th, which capped off a great hour for the South African after she also eagled the 10th hole in a round of 71. It was her third competitive hole-in-one on the LET and her fourth in total as she also made an ace during a practice round here.
Indian teenager Aditi Ashok, coming here fresh off her maiden LET win in the Hero Indian Open, returned a two-under 70 to lie tied fourth along with six others. She started inauspiciously, with a bogey on the first, and another on the sixth, before recovering with four birdies to stay in contention for her second title on the trot.
Morocco’s Maha Haddioui, the only Arab golfer on the Ladies European Tour, returned an even-par 72, her three birdies getting spoiled by an equal number of bogies.

LEADING SCORES
67: Lydia Hall (Wales), Noora Tamminen (Finland)
68: Kylie Walker (Scotland), Anna Nordqvist (Sweden)
69: Chloe Leurquin (Belgium), Nicole Garcia (SA), Sarah Kemp (Australia), Anne Van Dam (Netherlands), Nanna Koerstz Madsen (Denmark), Sophie Giquel-Bettan (France), Becky Morgan (Wales), Carmen Alonso (Spain), Johanna Gustavsson (Sweden), Annabel Dimmock (England)
70: Lina Boqvist (Sweden), Marta Sanz Barrio (Sweden), Ashleigh Simon (SA), Titiya Plucksataport (Thailand), Isabelle Boineau (France), Aditi Ashok (India), Alexandra Vilatte Farret (France)