Michaela Vavrova leads the Ladies Slovak Golf Open on home soil at TALE Ski Golf & Hotel Resort after firing an opening round one-under 71.
The Slovak golfer, 25, mixed five birdies with four bogeys to be the only player among the 115-player field on the LET Access Series (LETAS) to shoot under-par on Wednesday.
Vavrova has a three-stroke advantage over seven players (74) ahead of Thursday’s second round.
“It was a good round,” Vavrova said. “It’s my home and I love this place. It’s the trees, the people… it’s honestly everything. It’s really nice to feel that home atmosphere and support. My family and my friends came out. It’s very special for me.
“I do feel very welcome and very supported. And it’s very important for me, especially after being on the road for 10 weeks now.
“I made couple bogeys, couple birdies and then my back nine was a little more stable. I think the key to today’s round was just to stay present. It was nice that I wasn’t going too much backwards and too much forward. I was just where I was standing, so that was good.”
Vavrova already has a superb record on this course, having scored her career-best finish (T-2) in 2024 and placing inside the Top 15 in 2025.
After starting with a birdie on the opening hole, Vavrova went bogey-bogey-birdie-birdie-bogey on a five-hole stretch from 5 to 9. On the back nine, she bogeyed the par-4 13th but recovered with birdies on both the par-5 14th and 18th holes to finish in the red digits.
Unlike last week’s windy conditions at HimmerLand, Denmark, this week’s challenge is the undulating and heavily sloping greens which made it difficult to shoot low scores.
“The greens are very fast for how slopey they are,” Vavrova said. “I am local but some breaks, I just didn’t see for the speed we had today. But I think everyone is playing on the same course, so it’s the same conditions for everyone I would say.
“The course itself is in great shape given we had tropical weather the past two weeks. I think they really did their best.”
Having held the final day lead two weeks ago at the Women’s Irish Challenge in Malahide, Ireland, Vavrova is once again in contention to win her first professional title.
“Honestly being in the final group in Ireland helped me a lot,” she added. “It was just amazing how many people got to watch us play. At one point in that final round, I just looked back and I was like, this is actually awesome… that how many people came and supported us.
“And I was like, this is a good practice for me when I play at home, because I just know that many people are going to come watch. So yeah, it was it was definitely a great experience coming into this event.
“I just need to stay patient and positive and just keep enjoying the atmosphere that I am home and with my family and friends.”
Trailing Vavrova by three shots at two-over 74 for the tournament are Slovakia’s Anika Bolcikova, Iceland’s Hulda Gestsdottir, Sweden’s Elice Fredriksson, Slovak amateur Karolina Friedrichova, Sweden’s Hanna Nilsson, Czechia’s Karolina Stara and Switzerland’s Caroline Sturdza.
Another shot behind at three-over overall are the pack of England’s Emily Toy, Germany’s Theresa De Bochdanovits, Austria’s Isabella Holpfer, Germany’s Hanna Tauber, French amateur Alice Kong, Denmark’s Cecilie Leth-Nissen, English amateur Davina Xanh and France’s Lauren Holmey.
Other selected scores include Czechia’s Tereza Zapletal Kozeluhova (76), Norway’s Silje Torvund Ohma (77), Malaysia’s Genevieve Ling and Sweden’s Elsa Svensson (both 78) and Switzerland’s Natalie Armbruester (81).
There will be a cut to the top 45 professionals and ties, currently projected to be seven-over, after Thursday’s second round which resumes at 8am local time.
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