The Aramco Team Series in Riyadh kicked off with a stellar showcase from some of women’s golf’s biggest names.
Leading the pack on a strong opening day were Charley Hull, Pia Babnik, and Luna Sobron, each finishing at seven-under-par.
For fans of the Ladies European Tour, this opening round offered everything you’d want: blazing starts, technical finesse, and memorable moments like Cassandra Alexandra’s crowd-pleasing hole-in-one.
Hull delivered a front nine that sizzled with four birdies and a jaw-dropping eagle, setting her up at six-under-par.
She wrapped up her day with a score of seven-under, just missing a putt on the 18th. Reflecting on her round, Hull said,
“It’s a very, very scoreable golf course. You could shoot 60 – I was looking to shoot a 58 after the front nine – but yeah, I played well.
It was a shame about my putt on the last, it just bobbled. It went straight down like a line on the green, but I played pretty decent.”
When asked about her recent added distance off the tee, Hull gave a refreshingly grounded response: “I don’t train for golf. I have no interest in doing golf training like I just trained for me. In my mind that’s what’s happened. I’ve hit it a bit longer, it’s bit of a bonus.”
Also sitting atop the leaderboard was Slovenian prodigy Pia Babnik, the 2021 Aramco Team Series champion in Jeddah, who has since been working hard to refine her game.
Her collaboration with coach Matt Belsham, introduced to her by Hull, has been instrumental.
Babnik shared, “I’ve been working with him since last August. It’s just been amazing.
He helped me a lot. I still have my dad as a coach, but it’s just good to have Matt. He completely changed my swing to be more compact and, yeah, just more stable.
My technique was just terrible, so we’re still working on that, and then the power will come back as soon as I get the feel of the new technique.”
Luna Sobron made an impressive appearance at Riyadh Golf Club, tying for the lead despite limited practice on the course.
Sobron’s putting game was dialled in, thanks in part to a switch to Aimpoint putting technique.
“It’s a really good course,” Sobron said following her round. “I only had nine holes of practice on Tuesday and nine on Wednesday, but you can really score low with the right shots.
My putting was on fire, I made nearly all of them. I have changed up my putter, and now I’m using Aimpoint – so I feel like everything has become much clearer to me.”
And then, there was the unforgettable hole-in-one by South Africa’s Cassandra Alexandra on the par-three sixth.
While the crowd was thrilled, Alexandra admitted she missed the shot, only learning about it from a spectator.
“I didn’t see it!” she said. “It was Anabel Fuller’s mum who told me, and I was like, ok cool! My caddie had a nine iron in mind, but I thought a chippy eight would be good… and chippy eight it was.
I missed a few putts, if I could have made one or two more, I would have been even happier, but three under for the day, I’ll take it.”
Meanwhile, Chiara Tamburlini is set on making history as the first team captain to win consecutive events.
Her team, featuring Anne-Charlotte Mora, Mimi Rhodes, and amateur standout Teniel Chu, hit a remarkable 23-under-par for the day, tying the series’ single-day team scoring record.
Tamburlini, who’s demonstrated a special connection with the series’ format, expressed her passion for the game’s mental and strategic aspects: “We had a great team again, and we all played well,” said Tamburlini.
“But to be top again, it just shows as well how much I love this format and how well it suits my game and my mental game especially. Hopefully we’ll get it done tomorrow.”
With day two around the corner, golf fans are in for a thrilling continuation as these top players battle for victory at Riyadh Golf Club. To follow the action, visit www.aramcoteamseries.com.
