Minjee Lee leads the Women’s Scottish Open as play is suspended

IRVINE, Scotland — Two-time major champion Minjee Lee of Australia was able to weather the strong wind and catch a break from the rare sunshine in the wet Scottish summer with a 5-under 67 on Thursday to take one shot at the ISPS Handa Women’s Scottish. It was opened before the game was stopped for a day.

Lydia Ko, coming off her Olympic gold medal, braved the worst weather at Dundonald Links and made five birdies in her round of 69.

Former US Women’s Open champion A Lim Kim and American Megan Khang were 68s.

The opening round was halted by bad weather and a waterlogged field. England’s Lily May Humphreys was 4 under with six holes to play. Play was initially stopped for about an hour due to rain, and there was another weather delay of 2 hours, 20 minutes.

Lee is coming off a disappointing Olympics where he did not qualify and ended up tied for 22nd. He played bogey-free on the tough course, picking up birdies on both par 5s on the back nine.

“She’s always a happy girl after a bogey round,” Lee said. “I feel like I played smart golf, I would say. I gave myself a lot of birdie opportunities. I feel like when I was in trouble, I missed in the right spots and I was able to get up. , that was good.”

Lee thought he had caught a break from the rain, although there was no escaping the strong wind.

Ko got the worst of both, describing the weather as so bad that he was too busy dealing with it to stress too much.

“If it’s just windy, it’s fine. But there was wind and rain,” Ko said. “It’s hard when you have to hold an umbrella sideways and not lift it. I’m sure it’s designed to hold it upside down. So it’s very difficult out there.”

Ko managed a 69 despite making just one birdie on the par-5. In the wind, both par 5s on the front were reachable. Still, he didn’t complain given the weather.

“That’s part of the experience of coming in. If you don’t like it, you probably won’t play that well, anyway,” Ko said. “So it’s about grinding and you know that sometimes you’re not going to be on the good side of being cheated. But that’s part of playing tournaments in this part of the world.”

England’s Charley Hull was in contention for the lead until a bogey on the 5th 14th slowed his momentum. She finished in a team of 70 including Germany’s Esther Henseleit, who took silver at the Paris Games.

The tournament is the last stop before next week’s Women’s British Open in St. Andrews.