3 More Rounds To Learn

Ex-US Open champ Kim tames vagaries of weather to lead; S'pore's Tan is 20th

- Kimberly Kwek

The sweltering heat in Singapore is what usually makes things tough at the HSBC Women's World Championship.

On Feb 27, though, it was the wind that was causing trouble at the Sentosa Golf Club's Tanjong Course.

Hit by swirling winds in the first round of the US$2.4 million (S$3.2 million) tournament, the difficult conditions were reflected in the leaderboard as South Korea's Kim A-lim took the sole lead with a four-under 68.

A stroke behind in second was England's Charley Hull, with a four-way tie for third between Minjee Lee, Yin Ruoning, Choi Hye-jin and Gaby Lopez at 70.

Commenting on her round, world No. 34 Kim said: "It was great because I had a really great short field and putter.

"There was a lot of wind, a lot of swirling, and it's not consistent, so it was hard to read.

"But everybody is in the same hard situation because we couldn't control the wind, and I have three more rounds to learn."

The 2020 US Open champion has enjoyed a strong start to the season, winning the opener at the Tournament of Champions in February, before finishing sixth at the Honda LPGA Thailand last week.