Teen spirit puts Hataoka in lead at Canadian Open

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REGINA, Canada, Aug 24, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Japanese teenager Nasa Hataoka
produced a final-hole birdie to grab a share of the first round lead at the
Canadian Women’s Open on Thursday with a scintillating eight-under-par 64.

The 19-year-old prodigy joined a three-way tie at the top of the
leaderboard at Wascana Country Club in Regina after carding nine birdies and
one bogey in a superb opening round.

Hataoka capped her strong start after nailing a birdie on her 18th hole to
move alongside Thailand’s Ariya Jutanugarn and Colombia’s Mariajo Uribe at
eight under.

All three members of the leading group equalled the course record at
Wascana.

World number two Ariya, who bagged the second major of her career with
victory at the US Women’s Open in June, drained nine birdies and only one
bogey for her 64.

Uribe, ranked 173rd in the world, produced a flawless round with eight
birdies and 10 pars.

Ariya made a dream start after teeing off on the 10th, reeling off four
consecutive birdies to drop to four under early on.

She dropped a shot on her seventh hole of the day but then unleashed
another birdie blitz on her inward nine, with five more birdies to finish on
eight under.

The 22-year-old from Bangkok credited a relaxed approach for her low-
scoring round.

“I feel I’ve been playing pretty good for the last few weeks and I didn’t
finish the way that I wanted,” Ariya said.

“Today my goal is just like don’t worry about the future too much. Don’t
think about what I’m going to shoot today. Just try to focus on things I can
control.”

Uribe meanwhile said she had been determined to exploit benign weather
conditions which are expected to give way to strong winds in Friday’s second
round.

“I took advantage of that good weather we had this morning,” Uribe said.
“No wind; a little cold, but nothing crazy.

“It’s nice to get it done and actually take advantage of the great weather
we had, because tomorrow seems like it’s going to be windy.”

Hataoka, Ariya and Uribe were one stroke clear of Angel Yin of the United
States and Denmark’s Nanna Koerstz Madsen, who both shot 65.

Behind Yin and Madsen lurked a menacing chasing pack of seven players on
six under, including Canadian youngster Brooke Henderson, former world number
one Lydia Ko and Australia’s Minjee Lee.