Casandra Alexander Eagles the Last to Lead Wistron Ladies Open

• Casandra Alexander leads the Wistron Ladies Open by two shots.
• Cheng-Hsuan Shih of Chinese Taipei is alone in second place.
• Six players, including England’s Alice Hewson and Hannah Screen, are tied for third.

Casandra Alexander holed an eagle putt on the 530-yard par-5 18th at Sunrise Golf and Country Club to complete a bogey-free 64 and take a two-shot lead after the first round of the Wistron Ladies Open in Chinese Taipei.

The South African, who leads the Ladies European Tour Order of Merit, went out in the afternoon wave and birdied the 2nd, 6th and 8th to turn in 33. Further birdies followed at the 11th, 13th and 14th before the closing eagle took her to 8-under.

“My back was a little tight on the range, so I hit some dodgy shots there and I said to Doug [Pirie, her caddie] that my back is feeling tight so let’s see what happens,” said Alexander. “I got onto the course and felt a lot better.”

She credited her wedge play and her scoring on the par-5s.

“I started racking up a few birdies, obviously bogey-free helps because every birdie counts,” she said.

Alexander has won twice on the LET this season, wire-to-wire at the KPMG Women’s Irish Open in August and at the Ladies Italian Open a month later.

“When you shoot a really good score you have got to be really patient the next day, so I know Doug is already going to give me a whole chat about that,” she added. “Just nice and patient tomorrow and set up a couple of birdie opportunities and see if we can convert them.”

Shih also avoided a dropped shot, with birdies at the 1st, 7th, 9th, 12th, 14th and 16th and lies in second place at 6-under.

“I know Sunrise Golf and Country very well. Every time, I come back here I’m very comfortable and I can enjoy my game here,” she said.

English pair in the chasing pack

Hewson was bogey-free with five birdies, a welcome return after a difficult spell.

“It was a bit of a relief coming off the back of two pretty tough weeks. It was nice to see some of the work that I’ve put in lead its way onto the golf course because it doesn’t always happen,” she said.

Screen reached the same mark with four birdies in a row from the 13th to the 16th.

“There were a lot of gettable holes with shots inside 130, 120, so you could be quite aggressive,” she said. “I’ve worked on my wedges the last two weeks at home; it was nice to see them working out today.”

Alongside them on 5-under are two-time LET winner Helen Briem, who opened with three straight birdies and eagled the par-5 13th, Austria’s Emma Spitz, Hong Kong’s Ginnie Ding and home favourite Pei-Ying Tsai, who won at Sunrise on the TLPGA earlier this year. Defending champion Yani Tseng, Alexander’s playing partner, is part of a ten-way tie for 10th.

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