Ireland tied for sixth after first day of Women's World Amateur Team Championship

Ireland are tied for sixth at 3 under with Australia following the first round of the 28th Women's World Amateur Team Championship at Carton House in County Kildare.

By The Newsroom

Published 29th Aug 2018, 23:00 BST

Updated 4th Sep 2018, 05:15 BST

Yuka Yasuda, 17, posted a bogey-free and record-tying 7-under-par 65 on the par-72 Montgomerie Course to propel Japan to a two-stroke lead over the People’s Republic of China.

Teammates Yuna Nishimura and Yuri Yoshida each shot 1-under 71 for a team total of 8-under 136, which is just one stroke off the WWATC first-round team mark of 135 set by Canada in Japan in 2014.

Ireland’s Olivia Mehaffey, 20 - who was 2 under after a 70 - said: “A little bit of nerves. There was a lot of people out there, I didn’t expect so many people to be out there at a 7.45am tee time on a Wednesday.

“That was lovely. Definitely, it’s nice to get the first round and keep yourself up towards the top of the leaderboard.”

Defending champions Republic of Korea and Austria share third position at -4.