Lewis leads tight pack in Canberra

Amelia Lewis. Image: Tristan Jones / LET Tour

Amelia Lewis shot a flawless six-under-65 in the opening round of the ActewAGL Canberra Classic at Royal Canberra Golf Club to lead the chasing package to the weekend.

In almost perfect playing conditions, the 28-year-old from Jacksonville, Florida, carded six birdies and 12 pars to lead through a single shot over the Swede Caroline Hedwall, Finland & # 39; s Noora Komulainen and the Belgian Manon De Roey.

In a five-way draw for fifth place, Celine Herbin from France, Carly Booth from Scotland, Sarah Schober from Austria, Katja Pogacar from Slovenia and reigning NSW Women & # 39; s Open Champion, the English Megan Maclaren – all four under.

Western Australian star Hannah Groen is a shot further back at three below par, alongside the impressive rookies Esther Henseleit, and Linnea Strom, and Anne Van Dam, Madelene Sagstrom, Yan Liu, Noemi Jimenez Martin, Camille Chevalier and Christine Wolf.

Lewis was relatively slow to start her round before making a few birdies on the eighth and ninth hole and took another one on the 12th and then three more in a row from the 14th to the 16th hole.

"I started slow and missed a few putts but ended up making some birdies and the conditions were perfect with not much wind," Lewis said.

"I think the back nine is easier, it's a bit more wide open and I really like how the greens roll on the back nine.

"I almost stopped my second shot at 16 and I thought it went in, so I hit a nine-iron to two feet and that was my third birdie in a row, I felt it quite a bit and tried to get a few more in. get. "

If you can not find the Royal Canberra Golf Club before the final round of Sunday, you can view all the action streamed live via the website of ALPG, YouTube and Facebook.