Australian Open: Katherine Kirk out early to mug Royal Adelaide

Royal Adelaide was defenceless in perfect conditions for the opening round of the Australian Open.

It was a frustrating day on the greens for Lydia Ko.

It is early morning, warm and windless and thus the Royal Adelaide course has been muzzled. And so the old lady, celebrating its 125th year as one the country’s ­finest courses, gets mugged.

Very quickly, as Australian veteran Katherine Kirk hits off just after 8am. The 34-year-old birdies four of the first five holes. Royal Adelaide is seeing stars. Then on the back nine, Kirk birdies four of five holes from the par-3 12th. Soon enough she’s having lunch at eight-under-par and the outright lead. It will not be overtaken.

“I had a lot of birdie chances,” Kirk said. “I think I hit maybe 16 greens, 15 greens, so that helps. But I had a couple of tap-ins too for birdie. There are low numbers to be had out there. There are a lot of birdie opportunities. I was just fortunate I got off to a good start and just kept the momentum going.”

Katherine Kirk made the most of benign conditions to shoot 65 at Royal Adelaide.

In truth Royal Adelaide was getting an early morning belting. First it was walloped by three rounds of six-under 67. Little- known Americans Jane Park and Marissa Steen go whack, whack, and then South Korea’s Chella Choi went whack as well.

The runner-up to Karrie Webb in the 2014 Australian Open, Choi had seven birdies but lost a shot on the dogleg 365m par-4 13th. And just as Royal Adelaide got back to her feet by late afternoon, South Korean Min Lee came in with another 67 and knocked her right back down again.

Kirk is ranked 275 in the world but has two wins on the LPGA tour. She also claimed the 2009 Australian Masters and was runner-up to Yani Tseng in the 2010 British Open.

She has $4 million in prizemoney to her name. The 12th ­oldest player on the tour, her best years were 2009 and 2010 when she pushed inside the world top 20 but Kirk feels some momentum building this summer.

“I guess lately I’ve probably struggled to put four good rounds together, so that’s going to be obviously the key this week, to get the next three under par. But I feel like I’m hitting it well, I’ve just got to give myself more chances and just stay patient. The birdies are out there, you’ve just got to, like I said, keep giving yourself chances,” she said.

“I love being up on the leaderboard. It’s only day one, so the goal is to keep going tomorrow and hopefully put a good weekend ­together.

“We’ve got so many good players here that anything’s possible. I wouldn’t be surprised if a girl went out there this afternoon and shot eight- or nine-under. So, yeah, happy with the position and just got to keep going.”

There is a showdown within a title fight in this Open. Lydia Ko is the world No 1 but Thailand’s Ariya Jutanugarn won five times on tour last year and has pushed up to No 2 from well down the pack.

An early tee-time gave Ko the best of the conditions but, by her own admission, she failed to capitalise, shooting a two-under-par 71. You knew that watching her on the 18th green. She punched the air when a putt of less than two metres dropped.

“Yeah, I actually struck the ball really well. I hit my drives good, which is really important around a course like this, but just the putts did not drop,” Ko said. “When you’re like that, I think I almost was grinding and grinding and grinding, but it was good to see a putt drop on the final hole and hopefully that will give me good momentum going into tomorrow.

“It was perfect weather, I’m not complaining. It’s my first start back since CME (played last ­November in Florida), so it’s been a while but I think there were a lot of positives.

“Hopefully a few more putts drop throughout the week and go from there.”

The afternoon wind did not blow away the field but it foiled any meaningful attack on Kirk’s position. The closest the field would get was two shots.

Jutanugarn finished late and one shot behind Ko. Either player can still win, though Jutanugarn will have the advantage of an early morning tee time today.

She will want more from her putter, too.

Webb has made winning a sixth Australian Open a tad difficult with an opening 76.

“I just didn’t swing it very well early on and the further I went along the worse it got and then I missed a few short putts, which I’d been feeling pretty good with the putter, so that was a bit of a shock to the system,” Webb said.

Minjee Lee had an indifferent round, saved by some solid putting. Australia’s No 1 player returned a one-under-par 72 but she seemed out of synch with her swing.

Steen, 27, had the most intriguing story of the early starters. She lost her card in 2015 attempting to play with three broken ribs. In her defence she was unaware initially what was causing her pain. She broke them in a bout of coughing. She lost her card and only got back on tour this year.

Park’s story wasn’t bad, though. She has been married less than two weeks.

“I literally got married 12 days ago. We didn’t really plan it, but we eloped, went to City Hall and it was perfect. He’s caddying for Ha Na Jang (world No 6 and three-under after the first round). We were married with 30 other ­couples.’’

If the wind blows as it did ­yesterday, expect the field to squeeze together, for the conditions became increasingly difficult through the day.

That is, of course, if the old lady isn’t concussed.