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SEVEN different national flags filled the top of the leaderboard after the opening round of the Australian Women's Open and that only one had a union jack was close to shocking.
IT wasn't boiling hot and the wind was rather tame but Royal Melbourne played about as sandbelt as you can get yesterday. Yet none of the Aussies were able to play it like locals.
Only Kiwi world No.1 Lydia Ko, who has been playing sandbelt courses since she entered her teens, slowly found a game plan to hit the scoreboard.
She went through the first nine with just the one-birdie, but on the back started hitting the ball smarter, putting harder and a 12m eagle putt on 15 got the 17-year-old to 3-under.
It could have been a lower round, with several back-nine birdie putts shaving the hole.
Despite battling a cold that created mid-swing sniffles, Ko sits two back of leader South Korean Ilhan Lee.
Ilhee Lee finished the day at -5 under. Picture: Colleen Petch. Source: News Corp Australia
But with a morning tee time today and a game-plan in her mind Ko said she was confident she had the right plan in mind to keep her score in check.
"It's definitely a different course management plan," she said.
"Even when I hit a nine-iron I'm hitting it ten yards short of the flag and last week (In the Bahamas) I was hitting it 10 yards past and spinning it back.
"I didn't hole too many putts but I didn't make any mistakes. In the blink of an eye it could go six feet past (the hole).
"You have to play quite safe.
"It's different to the way we would normally play but it's great for us to be able to play on such great courses like Royal Melbourne."
World number 1 Lydia Ko during her round. Picture: Colleen Petch. Source: News Corp Australia
A different approach could be the order of day two for most after in excess of 20 rounds in the 80s on Thursday.
Hard fast greens approached with long irons and fairway woods called for sensible sandbelt golf.
Going directly at the flags was a no-no. In fact going at anything near them was tempting fate.
But copious amounts of players couldn't resist, went at the pins, and their balls went flying past accordingly.
They found traps and further off the putting surfaces dusty tracks in run-off areas from where pars were a struggle to be rescued. Spin was almost non-existent.
Players expended extra energy traversing the greens from one side to the other chasing balls that failed to halt where they normally would, and most rounds went beyond five and half hours as a result.
Charley Hull out of the bunker. Picture: Colleen Petch. Source: News Corp Australia
Jessica Korda won the Open at Royal Melbourne in 2012 but even she failed to adjust her game, noting how different the lay-out was from not just the week-to-week courses, but the course she won on too.
"I think the greens are either slower or they're firmer. I'm not sure which one of the two it is but they're definitely not faster, they're just firmer," she said.
" You really have to count on kind of bouncing it in versus landing it in."
The Aussie teen brigade were supposed to lead the local charge but limited exposure to Royal Melbourne brought some undone, including Minjee Lee, who played Royal for the first time last week and opened with a 76.
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