Both Canadians struggled in the first round of women’s golf, at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.
Alena Sharp and teammate Brooke Henderson shot opening rounds of 3-over 74. Henderson was near the top of the leaderboard for the first nine holes. But four bogeys on the back nine saw her slide down the standings.
“I hit it really well today for the most part. A couple loose swings cost me,” Henderson said. “But otherwise the ball striking was in pretty good shape, it was just kind of around the greens, disappointing to not see more putts fall but that’s golf, I guess, right? So hopefully tomorrow clean it up a little bit, make some more birdies and climb up.”
Madelene Sagstrom of Sweden leads after carding a 5-under 66, with Nelly Korda of the U.S. and Aditi Ashok of India behind her at 4-under.
While the summer heat was something of a forgotten concern ahead of the Tokyo Olympics due to the pandemic, it definitely was noticeable last week during the men’s golf competition and became a real-life factor Wednesday as the women’s tournament got underway at Kasumigaseki Country Club.
Leader Sagstrom certainly didn’t experience the 41C/105.8F afternoon heat index in her home country of Sweden, but she did attend Louisiana State University, now lives in Orlando, Florida, and has played in even worse furnace-like conditions in Thailand and Singapore.
Golf Canada – August 4, 2021