Chiara Noja fired an excellent course record of 62 (-10) to lead the opening round of the Investec South African Women’s Open.
The 16-year-old got off to a hot start at Steenberg Golf Club with four birdies in her opening five holes before dropping her only shot of the day on the sixth.
The Dubai-based star quickly bounced back with an eagle on the eighth and rolled in a further five birdies to top the leaderboard by two shots from Ashleigh Buhai
“I think it was pretty consistent golf in general,” said the German teen sensation. “I didn’t feel like I was swinging it incredibly well all day.
“I put myself in a good position for birdies, my putting was definitely good and to hole some of those putts was really good.
“My wedges were on point and I think that’s what we’ll try to do going into the next few days. Depending on the wind, we’ll see exactly how much we will need to go under par.”
First win on the LET
Noia secured her maiden victory on the Ladies European Tour back in November clinching the Aramco Team Series – Jeddah Individual title.
The super low round was the result of months of hard work on the range in the off-season, where she worked hard on adding new shots to her bag over the off-season.
“Over the winter I’ve done a lot of wedge work and a lot of the shots that I’ve learned to hit over this week and the start of the season I didn’t have in the bag last year,” she said.
