DUBAI // Normal service resumed at the Omega Dubai Ladies Masters on Thursday, as best it could, with Florentyna Parker posting an early lead that no one could then match.
The tournament, the season-concluding stop on the Ladies European Tour (LET), had been rocked by the death of caddie Maximillian Zechmann on Wednesday, an incredibly sad event that cast a shadow over Emirates Golf Club and suspended the first round until the following morning. As such, the Ladies Masters was shortened to 54 holes.
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On its opening day, Parker had initially raced out of the blocks, firing seven birdies in nine holes before play was called. She returned on Thursday but could not quite recapture the magic and eventually slipped to card a 5-under 67, courtesy really of a double bogey on her final hole.
Still, it was enough for the Englishwoman to top the leaderboard by one shot heading into Round 2, a welcome relief since her most recent performances in Dubai have not been up to scratch.
“I struggled here the last few years,” Parker said. “The past three years I’ve missed the cut, and it’s been very disappointing. I was thinking back to 2010, when I think I started with 5- or 6-under on the back nine, which was my front nine. And I said, ‘I need to get that feeling back and somehow do the same’, and I can do it.”
There had been a minute’s silence at midday in respect to Zechmann, with the players each sporting black ribbons, most on their golf caps, conveying thoughts were never too far from the previous day’s tragedy.
“It was horrible, what happened,” Parker said. “Our thoughts are with the family, but it was the right decision to stop play and let us come back this morning. Yeah, we have to still do our job and concentrate on golf this week, but we’ll be thinking of him, as well.”
Parker’s main task now will be to hold off a pretty bunched chasing pack. A two-time winner on the LET, she has a number of players close enough to prevent her from securing a third, with American Cheyenne Woods and Frenchwoman Sophie Giquel-Bettan only one back.
Then, six players sit at 3-under, while Indian sensation Aditi Ashok is one of seven women three strokes off the summit. Defending champion Shanshan Feng, meanwhile, will hope to recover from a modest first round, in which problems with the putter prompted an even-par 72.
As it stands, there remains all to play for. However, it counts as a slight advantage when you have some local knowledge to fall back on.
“I feel very good,” said Frenchwoman Jade Schaeffer after shooting a 69 to keep her also well within reach of a third LET win. “I found a good caddie, too. His name is Aryaan, he’s from here and he’s a very good guy. He’s just smiling with me and talking with me. He’s so cool. I’m very happy to be with him.”
Schaeffer’s contentment on course was in contrast to Charley Hull. The young English star, 20, is fresh off a breakthrough victory in America, but she struggled in Dubai, matching three birdies with three bogeys to finish on level par. All things considered, though, it probably was not that bad after all.
“I’m OK with it,” Hull said. “I wasn’t feeling well this morning. It only took me 15 minutes to warm up because I thought I was going to be sick. But I’m happy with [my score] because, at the end of the day, the leaders are only 5-under.”
Asked if it was perhaps a bout of flu affecting her, she replied: “No, I just felt like I was going to be sick. I don’t know, I think there’s something going around this week. But I feel fine now. I probably ate too much breakfast.”
jmcauley@thenational.ae
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