Kuala Lumpur: Amateur Aretha Pan joined her more experienced counterpart Ainil Johani Abu Bakar as the best placed locals after the opening encounter of the Sime Darby LPGA Malaysia on Thursday.

The duo carded matching two-over 73s at Kuala Lumpur Golf & Country Club to lie tied 54th in the third edition of US$1.9 million LPGA tournament, two strokes better than United States-based professional Jean Chua. Chua, who was two-over going into the final hole, dropped a clanger when she posted double bogey to finish on 75.

Debutant Sarfina Vinota Seretharan displayed nerves of steel as she teed off alongside Mika Miyazato and IK Kim but showed why the tournament is pretty much a learning experience for her as she came around on ten-over 81.

Struggling with an errant driver, national player Aretha got her campaign off to a poor start when she double-bogeyed the 14th (having started on the 10th tee) after sending her recovery shot from behind the trees into water.

She responded well with a birdie on the 18th to make the turn on  37 before trading a birdie and bogey each on the outward nine to finish her round seven strokes behind leading amateur Min Lee of Chinese Taipei.

“I was not hitting the ball so well today, only hitting seven fairways in total but I focused on making the greens and saving crucial pars,” said the 18-year-old, who admitted that she was feeling a little nervous despite marking her third appearance at the event.

“I was a bit nervous but it’s always the case with me on the first day of any tournament. It’s just my way of getting into gear I suppose. I  need to make the course simpler and play percentage golf.  There’s still three more days and if I can pounce on the chances that come by, I can make my way up the leaderboard,” she added.

Ainil was pleased with her effort but rued two silly mistakes, which cost her a level-par round. “I started pretty well and other than the two unforced errors, I’m very pleased with the way I struck the ball. I misjudged the green speed a bit today but struggled to roll in the putts,” she noted.

A mini fightback on the front nine proved the highlight of her round. “I was  four shots down after the 12th when I found water with my approach  but my coach cum caddy this week Tony [Maloney] just advised me to put it behind me and to regroup myself. It helped tremendously because I responded with two straight birdies on the sixth and seventh, which was good,” added an optimistic Ainil.

A hesitant start proved Jean’s undoing as she continues to find her footing in her home-coming tournament. “It was a jittery front nine as I really struggled to get going. Had my fair share of poor lies and tough shots from the rough but I guess i was trying too hard as well,” said the LPGA development Symetra Tour regular.

“I played lot better on the back nine when I made my birdies and I’m slowly getting more steady. Learned today that there is an incentive of staying on the fairway. But there’s plenty of golf yet,” shared the 25-year-old.

Sarfina was not complaining despite playing bogey golf and was looking forward to an improved display over the next three days. “I wasn’t feeling nervous at all, my mind was quite clear but but I couldn’t feel my clubs!” shared the 16-year-old on her feelings on the first tee.

“It was really good experience and I’m pleased with my first attempt – I would have loved to have shot a better round but there is still three more days to improve.

“I was a bit unsure after a run of three opening bogeys but once I parred the fourth hole, I was pretty fine and managed to get into a rhythm on the back nine,” explained Sarfina.

While she matched the professionals on her flight in terms of distance off the tees, Sarfina admits that she has to sharpen her short game and drain the crucial putt. “Missed four birdie chances even though I hit my irons because I either misread the greens or misjudged the speed.

“I am going to stick to my game plan and continue to play safe, especially laying it up on the longer par fives. The idea is to improve my score by two shots daily and to keep it under 80, which was my initial target,” admitted Sarfina, who was grateful for the steadying hand of her caddy this week, PGA Tour Academy Director of Instruction Shane Gillespie.