Green labours as Kim leads Aussie charge in LPGA event

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Green labours as Kim leads Aussie charge in LPGA event

Hannah Green will have to play catch-up to secure back-to-back LPGA Tour titles after finishing well off the pace after the opening round of the Maybank Championship in Malaysia.

Grace Kim is the leading ***********, in a tie for 11th after carding a first-round five-under-par 67 at the Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country Club on Thursday.

Kim finished with a flurry, collecting four birdies in her last five holes to trail ********* leader Mao Saigo by four shots.

Gabriela Ruffels, a contender for the LPGA’s rookie of the year honours, started with a three-under 69 to be sharing 26th spot.

But Green has gifted Saigo an eight-shot start after mixing four birdies with three bogeys in her first-round 71.

Fresh off claiming her third title of the year at last week’s Ladies BMW Championship in South Korea, Australia’s world No.5 is languishing in a tie for 57th in the 77-player field.

Green’s lowly position is a far cry from her wire-to-wire win on Sunday, and the former Women’s PGA Champion has a raft of big names to reel in to move into weekend contention.

Korean world No.9 Haeran Ryu is Saigo’s closest pursuer, a ******* behind at eight under and one shot ahead of China’s Ruixin Liu and Taiwan’s Wei-Ling Hsu.

Japan’s reigning US Open titleholder Yuka Saso is among six players at seven under, with defending champion Celine Boutier lurking alongside Kim at five under.

Boutier has been one of the hottest players on the ****** swing, with back-to-back top-10 finishes in Shanghai and South Korea last week.

The Frenchwoman’s victory last year was anything but routine in the tournament’s first year.

Boutier and Jeeno Thitikul tied for first place at 21 under, then featured in the second-longest playoff LPGA Tour history.

But the field all have to catch Saigo, who birdied six of her first nine holes on Thursday to set a cracking pace.

World No.2 Lilia Vu, the highest-ranked player in the field in the absence of the injured Nelly Korda, opened with a 74 and has even more ground to make up than Green.

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