March 30, 2017: The Yamaha Ladies Open Katsuragi tee off today at the Katsuragi Golf Club in Shizuoka prefecture.
Among the strong line-up include Yamaha-sponsored players Shiho Oyama and Chie Arimura from Japan as well as Korea’s Chae Young Yoon.
Defending champion, Ji-Hee Lee of Korea, who took a well-deserved break recently, is well recharged and ready to mount a strong title defence at the Yamana course at Katsuragi Golf Club.
Other top ranked players include past champions of the Yamaha Ladies Open- Ayaka Watanabe who is from Shizuoka and also Maiko Wakabayashi, who will be attempting to secure her second victory following her latest win at the AXA Ladies Golf Tournament on Sunday.
Korea’s Ji-Yai Shin and Japan’s Ayaka Watanabe grabbed the early honours when they returned with matching four-under-par 68s to share the first round lead at the Yamaha Ladies Open Katsuragi on Thursday.
Korea’s Hee-Kyung Bae and Japan’s Saiki Fujita are tied for 3rd following a 69 while defending champion Ji-Hee Lee of Korea struggled to a 76 at the challenging Yamaha Course at the Katsuragi Golf Club.
Playing in what is only her second tournament this season, Shin showed no effects of poor health that plagued her early in the year.
The Korean took advantage of the early benign morning conditions to mix her card with five birdies against a lone bogey
“As I teed off at 7:14am, the course conditions were amazing and I played through very well,” said Shin.
For more information about the Yamaha Ladies Open Katsuragi, go towww.YamahaLadiesOpenKatsuragi.com
