Rosales sets the early pace in Open

TEENAGER Jennifer Rosales, of the Philippines, took a sizeable nine-shot lead after the first round of the Hong Kong Ladies Amateur Open with a one-under-par 71 at the Clearwater Bay Golf and Country Club yesterday.

The 17-year-old Rosales, a recent winner of the Singapore Amateur Open, shot three birdies and two bogeys over the par-72 course to establish herself as the firm favourite to win the three-day competition.

Rosales scored birdies on the par-three third and par-four eighth holes on the front nine, with one bogey on the par-three sixth, going out in 35.

Coming back, she birdied the 12th, bogeyed the 14th and secured her last birdie on the 15th to become the only player in the field to break par for the round.

In joint second place were Hong Kong's Tomoe Masaki and Malaysian Dorothy Ng, both of whom shot eight-over-par 80.

Hong Kong's Suzette Hinton and India's Vandana Agarwal were a stroke behind Masaki and Ng on 81, with China's Huang Liyu and Hong Kong's Olivia Cheng both on 82.

Cheng last year won the Division Two competition, for players with handicaps from 11 to 16.