Kelsey Bennett leads the home charge at the Women’s Australian Open, sitting three strokes behind first-round leader Darcey Harry from Wales at Kooyonga Golf Club.
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Bennett, who came into this week on the back of her first professional victory in nearly 18 months at the Australian Women’s Classic just five days ago, carded a three-under-par round of 69 in Adelaide to sit in a share of fourth place.
The New South Wales South Coast pro is in a rich vein of form, with three top-eight finishes in her past three starts, including her victory at Magenta Shores, crediting the work she is doing with her coaches behind the scenes.
“I’ve actually started working a bit with [performance coach] Ben Crowe, so that’s definitely helping,” she said.
“But my coach, John Serhan, he’s just been amazing. We just talk about good attitude, good self-talk, just accepting stuff. Pretty much most of that.”
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In a day of contrasting conditions, Harry made the most of the calm morning as she carded five birdies and an eagle, dropping just one shot in her six-under round of 66. She is one stroke ahead of playing partner Alexandra Forsterling of Germany, who carded two eagles and four birdies in her five-under effort.
Forsterling is a four-time winner on the Ladies European Tour, with Harry picking up her first victory last season in Belgium. This week is the third of four consecutive events co-sanctioned by the WPGA Tour of Australasia and Ladies European Tour, and the first time the Women’s Australian Open has appeared on the LET schedule since 2016.
Major winner Hannah Green, who won her seventh LPGA Tour title a fortnight ago in Singapore, is the next best-placed Australian, sitting in a share of 10th on two-under.
After a level-par front nine, the West Australian made four birdies on her back nine to sign for a round of 70.
“Yesterday when I played in the pro-am, I didn’t really make that many birdies, so it was kind of going to be difficult,” Green said.
“It was kind of hard to read the greens today with the pin positions. A couple of them I was kind of baffled with, how bad my read was.
“I played with Shannon [Tan] and Minjee [Lee] and I felt like Shannon, she didn’t hole anything. So it was kind of tough for us to feel confident on the greens. But all in all, pleased with a two-under-par.”
Three-time major champion Lee is in a tie for 24th after a level-par 72, with Grace Kim, who won her first major at last year’s Amundi Evian Championship, carding a three-over 75 in the afternoon’s breezy conditions.
