RIYADH: A strong opening day of the Aramco Team Series presented by PIF – Riyadh saw three players share the clubhouse lead as Charley Hull, Pia Babnik and Luna Sobron each finished at seven-under-par.
Hull came out at a blistering pace, with four birdies and an eagle wrapping up her front nine of six-under-par, as she began the hunt for her first win since 2022 at this week’s Golf Saudi organized event
The English star, who has finished in second place twice on the series this year, added a further two birdies to her scorecard, before walking off with a bogey on the 18th, after just missing a short putt.
“It's a very, very scoreable golf course,” said Hull reflecting on her day. “You could shoot 60 – I was looking to shoot a 58 after the front nine - but yeah, I played well.
“It was a shame about my putt on the last, it just bobbled. It went straight down like a line on the green, but I played pretty decent.”
When asked about her increased length off the tee this year, adding 10 yards, Hull was unfazed – explaining this is just a biproduct of her own personal fitness drive.
“I don’t train for golf,” she explained. “I have no interest in doing golf training like I just trained for me. In my mind that’s what's happened. I’ve hit it a bit longer, it’s bit of a bonus.”
Also in the clubhouse at seven-under-par was Slovenian Pia Babnik, winner of the Aramco Team Series presented by PIF in Jeddah in 2021, aged just 17. After bursting onto the scene, Babnik finished 2022 ranked 67th in the world, but has since struggled for form, dropping as low as 512th.
Coincidentally, Babnik was introduced to her new coach, Matt Belsham, through Charley Hull – who has helped Babnik to rebuild both her confidence and her technique.
“I’ve been working with him since last August,” said Babnik. “It’s just been amazing. He helped me a lot. I still have my dad as a coach, but it’s just good to have Matt. He completely changed my swing to be more compact and, yeah, just more stable.
“My technique was just terrible, so we’re still working on that, and then the power will come back as soon as I get the feel of the new technique.”
Spaniard Luna Sobron found herself at the top of the leaderboard early in the day, finishing the day at seven-under-par. Following a year battling injuries and losing her LPGA tour card, it’s a welcome return to form for Sobron – made all the more impressive by the fact it was her course debut.
“It’s a really good course,” said Sobron following her round. “I only had nine holes of practice on Tuesday and nine on Wednesday, but you can really score low with the right shots.”
“My putting was on fire, I made nearly all of them. I have changed up my putter, and now I’m using aimpoint – so I feel like everything has become much clearer to me.”
There was also a hole-in-one early in the day, as South Africa’s Cassandra Alexandra walked off with an ace on the sixth hole – a 165-yard par-three. The magical moment was actually missed by Alexandra, following on from some debate with her caddie on what club to use.
“I didn’t see it!” she admitted. “It was Anabel Fuller’s mum who told me, and I was like, ok cool! My caddie had a nine iron in mind, but I thought a chippy eight would be good… and chippy eight it was. I missed a few putts, if I could have made one or two more, I would have been even happier, but three under for the day, I’ll take it.”
In the team element, the Ladies European Tour’s rising star Chiara Tamburlini led her team to equal the record of 23-under-par, a single day scoring record for the series. After winning the team event in Shenzhen, Tamburlini is keen to become the first ever captain to win successive titles.
Tamburlini’s group is made up of Anne-Charlotte Mora, Mimi Rhodes and amateur Teniel Chu – who contributed with an incredible 11 net birdies to the team score.
“We had a great team again, and we all played well,” said Tamburlini. “But to be top again, it just shows as well how much I love this format and how well it suits my game and my mental game especially. Hopefully we’ll get it done tomorrow.”
Day two of the tournament begins on November 1, at Riyadh Golf Club. For more information, visit www.aramcoteamseries.com.
