Michele Thomson made six birdies in her first round 67 to share top spot in the LET’s Women’s New South Wales Open at Dubbo GC, with fellow Aberdonian Gemma Dryburgh. Pictures by TRISTAN JONES

ABEREEN’S Gemma Dryburgh and Michele Thomson share a one-shot lead after a pair of five-under-par 67s in the first round of the Women’s New South Wales Open.

Thomson set the mark with six birdies – including five on the front nine – before finishing with a bogey on the short 18th hole at Dubbo Golf Club, a challenging course situated on the western banks of the Macquarie River.

Dryburgh, who went out in 34, came back in 33 with three birdies in her last six holes on a warm and sunny afternoon.

Thomson, whose best finish on the LET was second in the 2017 Hero Women’s Indian Open, said: “It was pretty steady. I hit a lot of fairways and greens and holed some really nice putts. So it was quite enjoyable.

“It was nice to feel that the driver was going to go straight, because you’re looking around about you, and there are a lot of people who are not finding the fairway. I just wanted to give myself chances and that’s what I did.

“The fairways are tough. You think you’re in the perfect spot but they will run out into the rough. I managed to find a few today, which definitely helped.

“I’d love another three five-unders. I’ve just got to keep going, keep my nose in front and let’s see what happens on Sunday.”

Michele Thomson has her father, Graham, serving as her caddie in Australia and she enjoys having him on the bag.

“Like with any father daughter relationship, he can get on my nerves occasionally. But he’s doing really well and it’s really hot here.

“He’s carrying the tour bag, so he’s doing a great job,” she said.

Gemma Dryburgh made seven birdies in her first round in the Women’s New South Wales Open to tie the lead after a five-under par 67. Picture by TRISTAN JONES

Dryburgh, who won the Oatlands Pro-Am on the ALPG Tour in 2017, is second on the LET’s Race to Costa Del Sol after her career-best fourth place finish in last week’s Geoff King Motors Australian Ladies Classic Bonville.

The 26-year-old, who spent four years on a golf scholarship in New Orleans at Tulane University, could move into pole position this week – as top-ranked Swede Linnea Strom is not playing Down Under.

She made seven birdies in total, but back-to-back bogeys on the fifth and sixth checked her momentum on the front nine before bouncing back well on the last nine.

Dryburgh said: “I hit my driver quite well. I only hit eight fairways, which is quite low usually, but the fairways are very narrow here – so it was a good day off the tee.

“I made a lot of putts as well. I was seeing the breaks really well. My putting has been improving and that’s been the missing piece over the last couple of years.

“So it’s nice to see the putts going in and hopefully they continue to do so for the next three days.”

The Scottish pair are ahead of Sweden’s Camilla Lennarth and Germany’s Olivia Cowan, with Swede Julia Engström, India’s Diksha Dagar and Australian Breanna Gill a stroke further back.

Last year’s LET order of merit winner Esther Henseleit, from Germany, the USA’s Beth Allen, Lincolnshire’s Holly Clyburn, Agathe Sauzon, from France, and two-time Thailand Championship winner Atthaya Thitikul – making her first start on the LET as a professional – are tied for eighth place on two-under-par.

•For live scoring in the Women’s New South Wales Open click here.

Atthaya Thitikul claimed the second of her two Thailand Championships as an amateur last June. She made her professional debut on the LET this week, in Australia, still only aged 17. Picture by TRISTAN JONES

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Holland’s Anne Van Dam claimed the Andalucia Costa Del Sol Ladies Spanish Open for the second year in a row at Marbella’s Aloha Golf Club. Picture by TRISTAN JONES

ANNE Van Dam from the Netherlands won the Andalucía Costa del Sol Open de España for the second straight year, collecting her fifth Ladies European Tour title at Aloha Golf Club, in Marbella, on Sunday.

Van Dam was three strokes behind Nanna Koerstz Madsen after the third round and the Dane was still one ahead standing on the 18th tee.

However, as the winds strengthened, Madsen hit an aggressive drive into the lake left of the fairway and then three-putted to run up a double bogey.

Van Dam used her four-iron to split the fairway, before playing up to the green and eventually rolling in a two-foot putt for par to seal the victory.

It was her second of the 2019 season, following her win at the ActewAGL Canberra Classic, in March.

“I did not expect that,” said 24=year-old Van Dam, who earned her third trophy in Spain, following her Estrella Damm Mediterranean Ladies Open and Andalucía Costa del Sol Open de España titles in 2018.

“That’s golf. It was a crazy day. If you would have told me at the beginning of the day that two under was enough to win, I would have said, okay, I’ll take it,” added Van Dam.

“It was a different day with harder conditions, a little bit of wind and it got really cold towards the end.

“Nanna is a good friend of mine and I would have loved to have beaten her in a play-off; that would have been a better feeling for me – but that’s golf.

“She took more of a risk hitting a driver off the tee and I’ve been hitting an iron off the tee there all week.”

Van Dam, the longest hitter on both the LET and LPGA Tours in 2019, took her driver out of her golf bag for the tournament, but admitted she is keen to be reunited with it in the near future.

“I’m not sure we’re going to keep that going, because I love to hit driver,” the Dutch Solheim Cup player revealed.

“But it was a different week and you didn’t need a driver much this week. I just stuck to my plan, even though it was hard to only hit three-wood sometimes.

“It was a game plan we made this week and it paid off. I had a three-iron and a four-iron I could use off the tee as well as a five-wood and a three-wood, so I had a lot of options from the tee and I think that paid off.”

Van Dam shot 13-under at La Quinta Golf and Country Club to win the title 12 months ago, winning by three shots.

A final two-under par 70 in breezy conditions was enough to seal the title once again, as the defending champion got to 13-under for the week.

Madsen wound up tied for second with India’s Aditi Ashok on 12-under and was clearly disappointed.

She had taken a two-stroke lead into the back-nine after holing her second shot for eagle on the ninth hole.

Although Madsen double bogeyed the short 13th to drop into a share of the lead with Van Dam, she had birdied the 16th to regain the advantage.

Madsen said: “I lost today – Anne didn’t really win. I played terrible and had three double-bogeys which cost me everything.

“On one hole, I had a wrong distance, then I pulled one and then on the last one, I played aggressively and had said that I would play driver, no matter what.”

Azahara Muñoz, who won the title in 2016 and 2017, tied for fourth place with Germany’s Olivia Cowan and Sweden’s Julia Engstrom, while the USA’s Cheyenne Woods, fellow American Christina Kim and Norway’s Marianne Skarpnord shared seventh.

•To see the final results of the Andalucía Costa del Sol Open de España click here.

The Buckinghamshire-based LET now moves south for the season-ending Magical Kenya Ladies Open, where Skarpnord is set to be crowned as the winner of the LET Order of Merit.

German rookie Esther Henseleit is the only player who could unseat her, should she secure her maiden win.

LET announces end of season Magical Kenya Open

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