AIG Women’s Open 2024 FRL Tips: Four picks to fire at Old Course

The 2024 AIG Women’s Open begins tomorrow amidst some adverse weather, and Jamie Worsley is hoping to take advantage of this to find the first-round leader.

Here are his AIG Women’s Open FRL Tips…

This week’s event will see the field split into two and teeing off in distinct morning and afternoon waves. Very strong winds are set to be a feature throughout the opening round, as are intermittent periods of rain, though it does look like those teeing off early may just have the worst of it.

The morning wave are predicted be starting their tournament in the rain and gusty winds of up to 35-40mph, rising to highs of 45mph as the earliest starters finish their rounds. Though the first of the afternoon starters will also be caught in these extreme winds, they are forecast to die to around 30-35mph between 1-2pm, which whilst still very difficult, means that this later side of the draw will play most of their round in somewhat calmer conditions.

With that, all four of my FRL selections for the event will be coming from the afternoon wave tomorrow.

You can check out all of our AIG Women’s Open Odds over on betfred.com.

1 pt Atthaya Thitikul ew (1/4 5 places) @ 40/1

Start time: 12:48

Atthaya Thitikul has been in excellent form since returning from a thumb injury that kept her out of the opening weeks of the season. Ranking top-20 in round one scoring this year, she can make a positive start at enhancing her solid Women’s Open record tomorrow.

Thitikul has hit the top-20 on six occasions across her 10 starts this season and missed just two cuts. She’s recorded four top-10s among those results, which all came in consecutive starts when finishing 7^th in the Mizuho Americas Open, 6^th in the US Women’s Open, 4^th in the Shoprite Classic and 8^th in the Meijer Classic. Whilst when we last saw her, she finished 18^th in the Olympics.

She ranks 18^th in round one scoring and with all areas of her game looking in good shape, she has the skillset to make the best of Thursday’s testing conditions.

Thitikul has made five of her six cuts in the Women’s Open, recording a best of 7^th at Muirfield in 2022, and claiming low amateur honours in each of the 2018 and 2019 editions. Having finished 2^nd in the Women’s Scottish Open and 4^th in the Shoprite Classic, she has form that suggests this style of golf suits and I’m expecting her to show that tomorrow afternoon.

0.75 pts Yuka Saso ew (1/4 5 places) @ 70/1

Start time: 13:21

Yuka Saso hasn’t quite fired since winning the US Women’s Open back in June. Although, she looks to have a good game for St Andrews and ranking 9^th in round one scoring, she’s a big price to take the first-round lead.

Saso has only played four times since that win at Lancaster Country Club, missing two cuts and failing to hit the top-50. That being said, with her length off the tee, ability on par 4s and strength with the putter – all areas in which she ranks 12^th or better this season – she can stop the slide at the Old Course.

She has only shot over par in round one in three of her 12 appearances this season. Her best start came when shooting a 2-under 68 in tough conditions in that US Women’s Open win to take the first-round lead, whilst she also hit the top-5 after round one at the Fir Hills Seri Pak Championship and T-Mobile Match Play.

Indeed, Saso shot 4-under-par to sit 4^th after 18 holes of her Women’s Open debut at Carnoustie in 2021 and I’m hoping to see a similarly encouraging start tomorrow.

0.75 pts Allisen Corpuz ew (1/4 5 places) @ 70/1

Start time: 12:59

Hailing from Hawaii, it’s no surprise that Allisen Corpuz is good in the wind, as she showed when taking the US Women’s Open at Pebble Beach last year. In much improved form of late, which has often been aided by positive starts, she has a great chance to take the early lead at the Old Course.

Corpuz was solid at the start of the year but entering the Meijer Classic six starts ago, she’d missed her two previous cuts and failed to record a finish inside the top-30 in her last six starts.

She turned things around there, finishing 5^th and in stark contrast to those prior half a dozen efforts, she’s finished inside the top-30 over her last six. Coming into this week after a 15^th-place finish in the Women’s Scottish Open.

Her starts have been good over this time, sitting inside the top-25 after round one in four of those starts. This includes achieving a first-round finish of 4^th in the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship and she was 10^th after 18 holes in Scotland last week.

Corpuz missed the cut on her Women’s Open debut in 2022 but improved to finish 6^th last year. She sat 7^th after the opening round there and is a nice price to better that this time around.

0.75 pts Andrea Lee ew (1/4 5 places) @ 90/1

Start time: 12:15

Andrea Lee is developing a good record on the links and with her fast-starting ability this season, she can combine the two to hit the front at St Andrews on Thursday.

Lee’s results have been a touch in-and-out this season but there’s far more positive in there than negative. She was an excellent 3^rd in the US Women’s Open a couple of months back and just two starts ago, she recorded a 9^th-place finish in the Portland Classic.

Both of those efforts were helped by positive first rounds, especially in the US Women’s Open, as she sat 2^nd thru 18 holes. She occupied the same position in the Mizuho Americas Open and has been inside the top-20 after round one in eight of her 17 starts this season, which sees her rank 8^th in round one scoring.

Lee finished 7^th on her Women’s Open debut in 2020 and has made each cut since, recording a second top-10 when 9^th at Walton Heath last year. No stranger to starting well, she sat 4^th after the first round of the 2021 renewal at Carnoustie and there’s enough to suggest she can begin well again this year.

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