Japan’s Yuka Saso shot a 6-under 66 on Thursday featuring six birdies on her back nine to take a three-shot lead in the CPKC Women’s Open.
“First nine was pretty stable. Hit it okay. Putted okay. I don’t know what happened the back nine,” said Saso. “I started hitting some good second shots and having short putts for birdies, giving myself a lot of chances.”
She set a new tournament record breaking the previous record of 67 set by Michiko Hattori at the 1988 Canadian Ladies’ Amateur Championship at Shaughnessy.
Sweden’s Linn Grant lies in second place at 5-under after rebounding from her single bogey at the par-5 11th with four consecutive birdies.
“I didn’t feel very confident with my swing going out,” said Grant. “But I managed to kind of find something. You know, golf is golf. You got to just kind of go with what you have.”
Canadian Alena Sharp carded a 69 and is tied at 3-under alongside Americans Danielle Kang and Rose Zhang, Koreans Jin Young Ko and Sei Young Kim as well as China’s Weiwei Zhang.
Shaughnessy was originally set to host the event in 2020, but the COVID-19 pandemic delayed it by three years.