Olympics Golf Results: Thailand’s Ariya Jutanugarn leads after Round 1
By Brad Weiss
Round 1 action of the Women’s golf tournament at the 2016 Rio Olympics golf tournament got underway on Wednesday, with Ariya Jutanugarn in the lead.
The 2016 Rio Olympics are the first Olympics to feature the sport of golf since 1904. During that year, only the men competed for the gold, so women have not competed in Olympic golf since 1900. Margaret Abbott took the gold in 1900, as the American was given a bowl for her win.
The 1900 Olympics were not only the first Olympics where women could play golf, but it was the first Games that had women competing overall. It has been 116 years since a woman has won an Olympic golf event, and that will all change on Saturday.
Round 1 action got underway on Wednesday, and by the time all 60 golfers had finished their round, Thailand’s Ariya Jutanugarn had a one-stroke lead. Jutanugarn, the 2016 Women’s British Open champion, played extremely well. Had it not been for a double-bogey on the par-3 fourth, she would have went even lower. She finished her round at 6-under-par.
Second place in the first round belonged to South Korea, as two golfers from the country both finished with a score of 5-under-66. Inbee Park and Seiyoung Kim both had very strong rounds, and head into the second round with a lot of confidence. Park won the 2015 Women’s British Open, and has 17 wins on the LPGA tour, while Kim has won five times.
Lexi Thompson was the low-American on Wednesday, finishing up T7 with a score of 3-under-par. Fellow American Gerina Piller is one shot behind her, while Stacy Lewis one shot behind Piller. All three women should be in contention all tournament long.
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World No.1 Lydia Ko had a very easy round, heading into the clubhouse at -2 after the first round. After early bogeys on three and four, Ko settled in, and had only one other bogey the rest of the round. Her best hole came on 15, when from 135 yards away, she holed out with an 8-iron.
Round 2 will begin at 6:30am ET on Thursday.