Lees make hay on Royal Melbourne fairways

THIS is perfect. Warm but not hot to touch. The wind blowing sweet nothings.

Leader Ilhee Lee tries to ride a putt home in her opening round five-under at Royal Melbourne Picture: Colleen Petch.

THIS is perfect. Warm but not hot to touch. The wind blowing sweet nothings. With most people still waiting for the bread to jump out of their toasters South Korea’s Ilhee Lee begins her attack on the Australian Open at Royal Melbourne. But this is an assault on many fronts.

After 18 holes she has the lead. It has been a faultless first round on a Royal Melbourne course full of its usual nuances. And getting firmer and trickier by the hour. Lee does not record a bogey, posting a five-under round of 68.

She birdied the sixth, the par-four that turns quickly right towards the clubhouse and rises to a lumpy, split level green. The putting surface is so slick and devious young Englishwoman Charley Hull was putting together a fine round until she four-putted the sixth green from four metres.

For Lee consecutive birdies came on the 10th and the 11th, another one on the 13th and last on the 15th. Five birdies, no errors. She hit 14 of 15 fairways in regulation. And 17 of 18 greens.

Lee plays a competition within every tournament. It is the battle of the Namesakes. There are five Lees in this tournament, including 18-year-old Australian hope Minjee Lee. “I know there’s I think seven Lees playing this week right? (wrong, there are five). It’s not all from Korea, but still, lots of Lees. I want to be the most famous Lee, that’s my goal.”

In second place, one shot behind the would-be Lee leader, is Thailand’s Arija Jutanugarn, a 19-year-old with a story to tell. She is recovering physically from complicated shoulder surgery and mentally from a triple bogey finish that handed the Thailand LPGA title to Inbee Park.

She has rebuilt her swing and is on the tour via last year’s qualifying school. Her four-under round yesterday included three bogeys and seven birdies. She is in a battle of names, too. Her older sister Moriya is four-over-par after failing to mend the damage of a triple bogey on the par-four 8th.

Arija is ranked 60th in the world but was as high as 15 before her injury. This year she finished 11th in the Coates event in Florida and lost the Bahamas Classic in a playoff. A tie for 11th in Florida was followed by a playoff loss in the Bahamas a fortnight ago. Moriya is ranked 105.

The world No 1 Lydia Ko has the tournament under control. She is in a bunch of players at three-under-par. One out, one back. She bogeyed the tiddly 13th of 324 metres. Short of the green with her second, long and off the green with her third, her putt for par missed. She responded immediately, reaching the par-five 14th in two and dropping an eight-metre putt for eagle. It got her to three-under, a score she protected back to the clubhouse.

Ko had the sniffles yesterday but at just two shots off the lead after one round the rest of the field had the heebie-jeebies. Ilhee Lee, having missed the cut when the Open was here in 2012, arrived with a game plan she vowed not to tinker with. She would aim for the centre of every green, no matter where the pins were placed. It kept her out of trouble, out of the greenside bunkers that swallow players and not just balls.

Lee, 26, is a talent. She has won on the LPGA Tour already taking the Bahamas Classic in 2013. Last year she won more than $500,000, missing only five cuts in 29 tournaments. She had five top 10 positions.

In the 2012 open at Royal Melbourne Lee was intimidated. The course freaked her so much she nearly did not come out this year, making the decision to come at the very last moment. She is here mainly because of a recent change of coach. World Hall of Fame member Sandra Haynie has given her renewed confidence.“I had a little bit of a cold yesterday morning so I had no expectations for today and this week,” Lee said after the round. “I was not sure about coming here until last minute because I know this golf course is really tough. I told my caddie ‘I want to be middle of the green, I don’t care where the flag is.’ I think that’s very, very important to play this golf course so now I know how to play this course better than last time I was here.”

Lee’s game has been buffed in every way imaginable. “There’s a bit of everything … I manage the golf course better and then my drive’s better than then (2012) and swing’s got better, putting’s better, everything’s much better than that time.”

The Australian push struggled when it came to shove. Legend and defending champion Karrie Webb was even par, wiping out three birdies with three bogeys.

“It had firmed up a little bit today, even right from the start when we played this morning, they’re getting a little bit firmer each and every day and obviously as the weather warms up, it’s going to bake it out pretty good. I hung in there,” Webb said.

“It wasn’t the prettiest even par, a little up and down, but made a couple of birdies coming in to get back to even.”

Su Oh, winner of the Ladies Masters on the Gold Coast last week, found the greens unfathomable. She had 38 putts for the round, including four three putts. That she was on the practice putting green well after her round finished was not surprising. Today we will see if it was beneficial.

Jessica Korda, winner when the Open was played here three years ago, is comfortably placed at one-under.

The day finishes with Lee holding her lead she established by lunch. She is not faring as well in her other pursuit. Ranked 59 in the world she is the seventh highest ranked Lee. The best is Mirim Lee, a two-time winner on the LPGA Tour, who is ranked 18th in the world.

Now that’s what you call a leeway.