Widjaja to the Fore in Aramco Team Series

Singapore: Indonesian amateur Elaine Widjaja upstaged her professional playing partners on the opening day of the Aramco Team Series presented by Public Investment Fund – Singapore.

Continuing her rich vein of recent form, Widjaja, playing from forward tees, contributed a stunning seven-under-par 65 over the Masters Course at Laguna National Golf Resort Club.

Thanks in large part to her efforts, the team led by England’s Liz Young, and also including Gabriella Cowley of England (73) and Anne-Charlotte Mora of France (80) swept to the top of the leaderboard on 16-under-par.

Young shot a three-under 69 and is tied seventh individually – two shots behind pace-setting South African Nicole Garcia. American Danielle Kang also returned a 69 while world number one Lydia Ko of New Zealand signed for an even-par 72 that puts her in a share of 28th place.

“As a team we did well on the par-fives. Overall, it’s a really good result,” said Ladies European Tour winner Young, who had special praise for Widjaja, who tied for seventh individually at last month’s Queen Sirikit Cup in the Philippines and was joint 18th in last week’s Women’s Amateur Asia-Pacific in Singapore.

The reigning Indonesia National Junior champions, Widjaja is currently 344th in the World Amateur Golf Ranking.

Young said: “Elaine played fantastically and helped the team a lot. I asked her for a putting lesson half-way around because she could read those putts. I guess she’s used to the grainy greens.”

Garcia, who has captained her team to victory in both London and Jeddah previously, rolled in seven birdies and two bogeys on day one. The dropped shots came on her final two holes.

She said: “It was really nice to start like that. It was a bit disappointing that I couldn’t finish it off nicely, but at the end of the day, I’m still happy with my score.

“It’s nice to come in with a low round, especially starting that way you’re not chasing anything. I was having a lot of fun with my amateur and my two other pros, so I think that was part of it.”

Widjaja is one of a handful of talented female amateurs invited to take part in the event. Among the other amateurs in the field are Singapore number one Shannon Tan, Hong Kong's Virginie Ding, China's Handa Liu and Thai Pimpisa Rubrong.