June 18, 2007

LEXINGTON, Ky. (SMU) - SMU rising junior Kate Ackerson is two shots off the lead following an opening-round 71 at the 2007 U.S. Women's Amateur Public Links Championship being held at Kearney Hill Golf Links.

Reigning U.S. Women's Amateur champion Kimberly Kim, 15, of Hilo, Hawaii, and fellow 15-year-old Ha-Na Jang of Korea each carded 3-under-69s to take the early first-round lead on Monday. The 156-player field is competing in stroke play on the 6,094-yard, par-72 layout through Tuesday, and the low 64 scorers will advance to match play starting on Wednesday.

Ackerson had a four-birdie, three-bogey effort, but she was quite pleased with her effort, especially coming off a disappointing showing June 11 at U.S. Women's Open sectional qualifying, where she shot 77-79 in Houston.

"I like the greens here," said Ackerson, competing in her fifth USGA championship and second WAPL. "I love bentgrass greens because they are true to whatever you're reading. But my driver wasn't very good [at the qualifier]. That's mainly what I worked on [the past week]."

Live scoring updates are available here.