Natalie Gulbis shot a 6-under 66 to take a two-stroke lead in the Corona Morelia Championship, on thursday while Lorena Ochoa struggled to a 71 in her second LPGA Tour event in her homeland.
Sweden's Carin Koch was two strokes back at 68 along with Audra Burks. Burks had an eagle, three birdies and a bogey.
Nancy Scranton offset three bogeys with six birdies and was tied for fourth place with Sweden's Maria Hjorth and Italy's Giulia Sergas at 69 on the Tres Marias Residential Golf Club course.
The 22-year-old Gulbis started on the back nine and, after opening with a par, reeled off three straight birdies. She added three more after making the turn, using a long, accurate drives to stay out of trouble.
"I'm very fortunate that I have good distance off the tee and that definitely helped on a golf course like this one," said Gulbis, whose six birdies came on putts of less than 10 feet. "I had a lot of wedges today ... and you can fire at pins when you have short wedges in your hand."
Gulbis, looking for her first victory in her fourth LPGA season, said she's been in the lead on tour "six to 10 times."
"It's not a lot of pressure, but there are very good players on tour," she said.
Burks made eagle at the 355-yard, par-4 17th, her eighth hole, sinking a 129-yard wedge shot.
Ochoa was the story heading into the event. She won twice last year to become the LPGA Tour's first Mexican champion and is trying for the second time to win in her homeland.
The 23-year-old native of Guadalajara, just 280km from colonial Morelia, is tied for 28th and is very familiar with the layout.
"The first round is the hardest one, so I'm over with that," Ochoa said. "I know where I am right now and I think I'm going to feel more relaxed tomorrow. The good thing is I know the course, I know the leaders, how they play."
Ochoa started on the back nine and bogeyed Nos. 11 and 13. She made birdie at Nos. 14 and 18 and added another at the second. At the par-3 third, she hit an 8-iron into the water, and settled for a double bogey.
"I hit the ball pretty good," she said. "Just a couple of bad shots and it cost me a lot of strokes."
Vijay Singh quickly put his World Golf Hall of Fame induction in the background -- and got over his practice-round problems in a hurry, too.
The 42-year-old Fijian got off to fast start Thursday in his Houston Open title defense, shooting an 8-under 64 to tie the course record and take a one-stroke lead over Australians Gavin Coles and Brendan Jones.
The round-tying round came just a day after the Hall of Fame announced Singh's induction, and also followed his practice-round problems.
"It started going haywire," Singh said. "I went back to basics, things that I was working on, and it kind of corrected itself."
Singh, a nine-time winner last year who won the Sony Open in Hawaii in January for his 25th PGA Tour title, had eight birdies in the opening round, extending his bogey-free run at the Redstone Golf Club to 56 holes.
"It started going in," he said. "I don't know. I was more careful with setting my line up. I think I'm aiming, but I was a little bit ... more careful where my aim really was."
Australia's Adam Scott set a new course record at Pine Valley Golf Resort and Country Club after firing a 9-under-par 63 Friday for a three stroke lead after the delayed first round of the Johnnie Walker Classic.
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