Hangzhou, China: Saki Baba, the third-ranked amateur in the world, upstaged world number one professional Yin Ruoning during a thrilling opening round to the women’s golf tournament at the 19th Asian Games.

Turning on the style, 18-year-old Japanese Baba fired nine birdies in a scintillating seven-under-par 65 at the Westlake International Golf Club.

That gave her a two-stroke lead in the individual standings from 20-year-old LPGA Tour star Yin, only the second Chinese woman to claim the number one position in the Rolex Women’s World Ranking after Feng Shanshan.

On a low-scoring morning in Hangzhou that saw 20 of the 39-strong field better par, joining Yin in joint second spot are her compatriots Lin Xiyu and Liu Yu, Thailand’s Arpichaya Yubol and Indian Aditi Ashok.

In the 14-nation women’s team competition in which the best two daily scores from each team of three are counted, China and Japan are locked together at the top of the leaderboard on 10-under 134.

That is two shots in front of third-placed Thailand who are followed by Korea (137), India (138), Chinese Taipei (139), the Philippines (140) and Hong Kong, China (142).

Tied for seventh individually on 68 are amateur standouts Tiffany Huang Ting-hsuan and Rianne Malixi.

Winner of the 2022 Women’s Amateur Asia-Pacific (WAAP), Chinese Taipei’s Huang is 39th in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR).

Malixi of the Philippines, 75th in the WAGR, was runner-up in this year’s US Girls’ Junior Championship, third in the Queen Sirikit Cup individual standings and The Royal Junior in Japan and fourth at the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games.

Among five players who returned a 69 were Thai Eila Galitsky, 86th in the WAGR and the reigning WAAP champion, and Korean Kim Min-sol, fourth in the WAGR, one spot behind Baba.

There was also a promising start from 2021 WAAP champion Mizuki Hashimoto of Japan who is joint 15th after a 70.

Setting out from the 10th hole, Baba, the 2022 US Women’s Amateur champion, nailed five birdies against a solitary bogey in her opening nine holes. On the inward nine she added four further birdies and one bogey.

For her part, Yin was bogey-free. She also made a fast start and was five-under through eight. She went on to par her final 10 holes.

Leading First-Round Scores, Individual

65 – Saki Baba (Japan)
67 – Yin Ruoning (China); Lin Xiyu (China); Liu Yu (China); Arpichaya Yubol (Thailand); Aditi Ashok (India)
68 – Rianne Malixi (Philippines); Yoo Hyun-jo (Korea); Huang Ting-hsuan (Chinese Taipei)
69 – Patcharajutar Kongkraphan (Thailand); Eila Galitsky (Thailand); Mamika Shinchi (Japan); Mizuki Hashimoto (Japan); Koh Sock Hwee (Singapore)

Leading First-Round Scores, Teams

134 – China; Japan
136 – Thailand
137 – Korea
138 – India
139 – Chinese Taipei
140 – Philippines
142 – Hong Kong, China
143 – Singapore
149 – Vietnam
157 – Kazakhstan
162 – Pakistan
180 – Nepal
183 – Mongolia