Top-ranked Lorena Ochoa got off to a fast start in her first round of the season, shooting a bogey-free 6-under 66 on Thursday at Tanah Merah to take a one-stroke lead in the HSBC Women’s Champions.
“It was one of those days that I was getting the ball and making good contact especially, had a lot of birdie chances,” said Ochoa, an eight-time winner last season. “It was a great start.”
The Mexican star skipped the LPGA Tour’s opening two events in Hawaii.
“I am 100 percent ready to go,” she said. “It’s why I took a few more weeks to practice and why I am here.”
Paula Creamer, coming off a victory Sunday in the Fields Open in Hawaii, and Japan’s Ai Miyazato opened with 67s in the inaugural 78-player event that features 18 of the top 20 players in the world.
“I missed a lot of putts … but the ones that I holed were fairly big breakers,” Creamer said. “There’s not many straight putts that you have out there.”
Miyazato also noted that the Garden course was challenging.
“It’s pretty tough,” Miyazato said. “The fairways are narrow and the greens are sloppy, but the good thing is I can concentrate on hitting my shots. The shots felt really nice.”
Sweden’s Linda Wessberg was two strokes back at 68 along with South Koreans Kim In-kyung and Lee Jee-young, while Australia’s Karrie Webb shot a 69 in her first LPGA Tour start of the year.
Annika Sorenstam opened with a 71. She won her 70th LPGA Tour title at the SBS Open in Hawaii, ending a 17-month victory drought and vaulting her two spots to No. 2 in the world.
Norway’s Suzann Pettersen, a five-time winner last year, had a 72.
Ochoa birdied her opening hole, hitting a wedge to 5 feet. She made a 15-foot birdie putt on No. 3, a 6-footer off a 7-iron approach on No. 7 and two-putted from 40 feet for another birdie on the par-5 ninth.
She hit a 9-iron to 3 feet to reach 5 under on No. 10, and blasted to 2 feet from a bunker for her final birdie on the 269-yard, par-4 16th.
Ochoa played in a group with Sorenstam and Webb.
“I love to play with them. It’s something that really motivates me to play better, and it was a great group today,” Ochoa said. “I really enjoyed it. I tried not to concentrate on what they were doing. I tried only to focus on my game.”
