World No. 3 Ko Jin Young takes the lead at the Aramco Team Series

The world No. 3 and South Korean professional golfer Ko Jin-young took the lead in the Aramco Team Series - following an impressive bogey-free first-round score of eight-under-par at the Hong Kong Golf Club on Friday. 

Ko dominated right from the get-go, scoring an outward front-nine of 30 and back in 35, contributing to her two-shot lead in Hong Kong. She leads by two heading into the second round ahead of Anne van Dam of the Netherlands, who shot a six-under-par 67 to sit in solo second place. 

"I'm really happy to be here in Hong Kong playing in [the] team event," Ko said. "If I win, it's going to be my first win on the Ladies European Tour, so it's going to be an honor." 

Ko hit every fairway and hit 17 out of 18 greens during her bogey-free round on the course. She is also eyeing a spot in the World Golf Hall of Fame and sees this week as a step closer to that illustrious milestone with a victory in Hong Kong. 

"I want to get into the Hall of Fame. I have seven more points left. So I need to get seven wins or two or three majors. So it is my motivation. It is my lifelong goal."

Also in close contention to Ko and Van Dam after the first round are Spanish star Nuria Itturioz (-5) and Xiyu Lin (-4) from China, with home favorite Tiffany Chan, who took advantage of her local knowledge of the Hong Kong Golf Club, opening her championship with a first-round score of 71 (-2) to remain very much in contention with two rounds still to go.

Van Dam, who is a team captain this week at the Aramco Team Series, led her team of Sophie Witt, Lydia Hall, and amateur Andrew Hibbert to the top of the leaderboard in the team championship, courtesy of a combined score of 16-under par. 

Four teams currently sit in second place at 13-under-par (Team Alonso, Team Itturioz, Team Gainer & Team Ciganda), with two more teams tied for sixth at 12-under-par (Team Pettersson & Team Davidson Spilkova). 

The Aramco Team Series is unique and epitomizes Aramco's status as one of the most committed investors in female golf today. The investment by Aramco -a global integrated energy and chemicals company - as the headline sponsor makes them one of the biggest backers of the women's game in Europe today. 

The five tournaments form an important part of a record-breaking LET schedule, with teams of four players competing together over 36 holes, before the top 60 and ties compete individually in one final, deciding round. 

Unlike any other event in world golf, Team Captains recruit one fellow Tour pro through a draft system. Another Tour professional will be selected randomly, while all teams will uniquely include one amateur player. 

This is the only event in world golf where an amateur contributes to the final result in the main competition. 

Prize money for the winning team will be split between its three pro members. 

Patrick Wen and Rebecca Wang, both from the Greater Bay Area, visited Hong Kong to watch the Series and have a novel experience.

They added that the young generation would be motivated to play golf after Hong Kong golfer Kho Taichi won a gold medal in the Asian Games.