Thidapa leads Thai charge at the Blue Bay LPGA

Thidapa Suwannapura shot a 4-under-par 68 in windy conditions to set the early pace at the Blue Bay LPGA yesterday as Thai players occupied five of the top nine spots on the leaderboard after the first round on south China’s Hainan Island.

Fellow Thai Ariya Jutanugarn, the world No. 1, was a shot back with Canadian Alena Sharp after a 69 at the US$2.1-million tournament, co-sanctioned between the China and US LPGA Tours.

Du Mohan was the top Chinese as the 16-year-old rookie pro opened with a 70 at Jian Lake Blue Bay Golf Club to sit equal 10th in a group of five players.

Thidapa, who secured her maiden US LPGA title in July at the Marathon Classic, started her round from the back nine and came out strong with three birdies in her first five holes. After dropping her only shot with bogey five at the first hole (her 10th) she picked up further strokes at the sixth and eighth holes.

“The key for me today was my irons. My iron shot is pretty good today. I can attack the pins on a lot of holes and (get) a lot of birdie opportunities,” said the 25-year-old Bangkok native.

Jennifer Song (70) posted the third hole-in-one in tournament history when the 28-year-old Michigan native aced the 152-yard 7th hole with an eight-iron.

Notable scores included China’s Liu Yu, Liu Wenbo and Lin Xiyu, who all shot even-par 72, one stroke better than Park Sung-hyun (73), the world No. 2 from South Korea. China No. 1 Feng Shanshan, the defending champion, opened with a 3-over 75 to sit 48th in the 81-player field.