BOURNEMOUTH’S Georgia Hall admitted wayward approach work had cost her dearly after carding a five-over-par 77 in the first round of the Women’s British Open.

The former Oakmead College pupil hit just eight greens in regulation at Woburn yesterday despite the majority of her game functioning smoothly.

Five bogeys – including four in the last five holes – left the 20-year-old with plenty to do to make the cut at the £2.3million tournament.

Reflecting on her efforts, Hall told the Daily Echo: “I didn’t really hit many greens, which was probably the reason for my result.

“I didn’t putt badly at all, I drove the ball well and chipped fairly well but my approach shots to greens left me having to scramble.

“You can’t do that on this golf course because the greens are so big.

“After the first nine holes I was one over and I hardly hit any greens. The back nine is a lot tougher and I didn’t really improve so therefore my score got worse.

“Either I hit a great shot using the wrong club or I hit with the right club but off-line.

“I didn’t really give myself many birdie chances – I must have only had three or four – and that was down to my approach shots.”

Hall, who is ranked ninth in the Ladies’ European Tour order of merit with winnings of nearly 60,000 euro this year, warmed up for this week’s event with an eighth-placed finish at the Scottish Open.

The former Canford Kid is due to tee it up at 12.21pm today as she bids for an improved showing on the Marquess’ course.

She added: “There is no point getting down because I’m going to have a bad round at some point and it just happened to be today.

“I’ve got quite a bit of work to do but my first round is never that great. This year it has normally been my worst round.

“I’m just going to go out there and have fun and try and shoot as low as I can. I know I can do a lot better than I did today.”

Hall was neat and tidy in the early stages before a sizeable left-to-right putt helped her save par at the third.

The Dorset star pushed a seven-footer for birdie past the hole at the fifth, before another decent chance slipped by at the next.

Hanging in as best she could, Hall finally dropped a shot at the ninth when her putt stopped millimetres away from the hole after she had splashed out of a deep greenside bunker.

The youngster was slightly fortunate to twice avoid water at the 12th and a misjudged chip and a few errant putts contributed to bogeys at 14, 15 and 16.

A birdie opportunity slipped away from 12 feet on the penultimate hole before a wayward chip at the last left her too much to do with the putter, resulting in a fifth bogey.