Sweden’s Linn Grant leads Jabra Ladies Classic

Johannesburg - Sweden’s Linn Grant carded a three-under-par 69 on Wednesday at Glendower Golf to take a one-stroke lead after the first round of the Sunshine Ladies Tour’s Jabra Ladies Classic.

On a day when there were plenty of bogeys on plenty of scorecards, Grant’s single bogey was an impressive feat, and, combined with four birdies, it gave her the lead over reigning Investec South African Women’s Open champion Lee-Anne Pace.

Pace had two bogeys on her card, and she, in turn, finished one clear of England’s Florentyna Parker, last week’s champion Paula Reto and Cara Gorlei.

Grant signalled a warning to the field when she fired a round of 62 in the pro-am on Tuesday, but the 21-year-old from Helsingborg made some adjustments in the opening round.

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“I knew from yesterday’s pro-am that you could end up chasing it too much, so I just tried to keep my cool and make the birdies as they came to me,” said Grant, who won the Dimension Data Ladies Challenge two weeks ago. “I just did things as usual, played my game.

“It was a solid round. I think I missed two fairways, and just one or two greens. I was not as close to the pins as I was in the pro-am, but I took the chances that I got and I made the birdies that I could. I reached some of the par-fives, and just kind of hung in there.”

Pace started her round on the 10th and pulled herself back into contention after her bogeys on the third and fifth threatened to derail her round.

Birdies on six and eight got her back on track. She played with LPGA Tour campaigner Reto, who started with two birdies and dropped no shots on her opening nine. The par-three sixth, however, saw her give up a shot for her only drop of