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Two-time defending champ Nordqvist takes first-round LPGA lead
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 [June 03, 2017]
(Reuters) - Swede Anna Nordqvist made a flying start in her quest
for a three-peat as she surged into the first-round lead at the
ShopRite LPGA Classic in New Jersey on Friday.
The two-time defending champion birdied her first three holes en
route to a seven-under-par 64 and a one-shot advantage over South
Koreans Jenny Shin and Lee Jeong-eun, American Jennifer Song and
Thai Moriya Jutanugarn at the Stockton Seaview Hotel and Golf Club
in Galloway.
“I enjoy this place, but at the same time, I don't feel like I have
anything to prove here,” the 29-year-old leader told reporters.
“I hit the ball really well today and got a few putts going early,
and then kept hitting my wedges really well. Lowest round I’ve had
in a while.”
Nordqvist’s round was no surprise, and not just because of her
record at the tournament. She has been in excellent form this year,
12th in the Rolex world rankings and 13th in the LPGA standings,
with a victory already under her belt.
“This is my ninth year on tour, so I feel like I'm getting a little
more experience. The biggest difference this year is I've been happy
on and off the course,” she said, revealing that she has cut her
entourage.
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“I have
fewer people around me so I am just trying to do my own thing a
little bit more … so just less noise around me, and I can go out
there and enjoy and trust myself.”
Ryu So-yeon, meanwhile, made a terrible start in her quest to assume
the world number one ranking, carding three-over 74.
The South Korean needs to finish at least third to have a chance of
taking over top spot from Lydia Ko, otherwise Thai Ariya Jutanugarn
will go to number one.
Neither Ko nor Ariya, the younger sister of second-placed Moriya,
are playing this week.
(Reporting by Andrew Both in Cary, North Carolina, editing by Gene
Cherry) [© 2017 Thomson Reuters. All
rights reserved.]
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