Defending champion Kupcho starts strong at Canadian Women’s Amateur Championship

VANCOUVER — Jennifer Kupcho is off to a strong start as she looks to defend her title at the Canadian Women’s Amateur Championship.

The No.1-ranked amateur golfer shot a course record 7-under 64 to take a two stroke lead after the first round at Marine Drive Golf Club on Tuesday.

“I was hitting a lot of fairways, hit a lot of greens and just made a lot of putts. I was making putts from everywhere,” said Kupcho. “It’s a narrow course, so I just tried to keep it straight.”

“The course was really scorable. I was surprised from the practice round yesterday, it seemed like it was going to be difficult, but today I came out and it was just a really scoreable course.”

Kupcho of Westminster, Colo., is trailed by Yealimi Noh and Dylan Kim, who are tied for second at 5 under.

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Noh initially set the new women’s course record, and it was tied by Kim, before Kupcho broke it for the second time in one day.

Prior to Tuesday, the record was 4-under 68 by Annika Sorenstam in 1992.

The 21-year-old Kupcho won last summer’s tournament when it was held at Cutten Fields in Guelph, Ont.

There are three Canadians in the top 10, including Naomi Ko of Victoria, B.C., and Tiffany Kong of Vancouver in a four-way tie for sixth at 2 under, as well as Kasumi Kuniyoshi of Whistler, B.C., in a tie for 10th at 1 under.

World No. 16 Maddie Szeryk of London, Ont., and No. 26 Jaclyn Lee of Calgary are both tied for 17th.

Ko was the top Canadian at last year’s event, finishing tied for third.

Augusta James of Bath, Ont., was the last Canadian to win the event in 2014, a year after Smiths Falls, Ont., native Brooke Henderson completed the feat.  

World No. 2, Lilia Kha-Tu Vu, who finished second in 2017, hit a 2-over 73.

The four-round tournament goes from July 24 to 27.  

The Canadian Press