China's Sui sets early pace at Singapore Ladies Masters

SINGAPORE -- China's Sui Xiang set the early pace by carding a flawless six-under-par 66 to grab the first round lead at the inaugural Singapore Ladies Masters on Thursday.

Singapore's Shannon Tan also stayed in the hunt for her breakthrough on the China Ladies Professional Golf Association (CLPGA) by returning with a 68 to share second place with China's Cai Danlin, Thailand's Sherman Santiwiwatthanaphong, Kultida Pramphun and Japan's Ayaka Suzuki at the Laguna National Golf Resort Club.

Despite enjoying a bogey-free round that was highlighted by six birdies, Sui, who is chasing her third win on the CLPGA, believes there is still room for improvement as she chases her third CLPGA title.

"Today was probably one of the most comfortable rounds I've played. I was hitting almost every fairway and I also hit my approach shots really close to the hole, which helped me make birdies and go bogey-free.

"I would give myself 99 (out of a 100) for my performance today, leaving one point out because there's always room for improvement. I don't think too much about my position on the leaderboard during tournaments. I'm just focused on playing good golf.

"My putting from a few tournaments before has not been too good, but today was great and hopefully I can continue to have the feeling of the putter for the next two days," said Sui.

Tan had an encouraging start as she charged out with three birdies in her opening six holes. She parred the next two holes before dropping a shot on the par-four ninth to reach the turn in 34.

The 19-year-old Texas Tech University undergraduate, who finished joint fourth in the recent NCAA Division 1 regional, then birdied the 10th hole before marking her card with another birdie on 16 after five straight pars.

Playing on her home course, the Singaporean reached home comfortably with pars on 17 and 18 to sign for a 68.

"I honestly didn't think it was my best round today but I felt I stuck to my game plan. I missed in the right spots where I could get up and down for par," said Tan.

Sherman, the current CLPGA Order of Merit leader, traded five birdies against one lone bogey on the par-four 14th to trail Sui by two shots. The Thai admitted she will have to improve on her putting as she continues to chase her second victory on the CLPGA following her breakthrough in Shanghai last month.

"Today my plan was just to try to hit it in the fairway. My iron shots were also really good, I only missed two greens (in regulation) but I can't really read the (putting) line here," she noted.

The Singapore Ladies Masters is a 54-hole stroke-play format that features an international field of 132 players from 14 countries and regions, battling for the total prize purse of 100,000 U.S. dollars.

It is the fifth leg of the 2023 CLPGA season after stops in China's Tianjin, Beijing, Shanghai and Guangdong.