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Taiwan’s Lu, Sweden’s Koch share Florida lead

Lorena Ochoa of Mexico watches her shot from the third tee during the first round at the Ginn Open LPGA golf tournament in Reunion, Florida, on Thursday. PHOTO: AP

Taiwan’s Teresa Lu (盧曉晴) and Sweden’s Carin Koch posted first-round five-under 67s on Thursday to share the lead in the US$2.6 million Ginn Open.

Koch, a two-time winner on the US women’s tour, notched seven birdies to counter her only misstep, a double-bogey at 15. The Swede continued her strong play after firing a season-low 66 in the final round for fifth place on Sunday in the Corona Championship.

“The conditions were great today,” Koch said. “It was just a beautiful day, a little cold in the morning, and not much wind. The wind kind of came and went a little bit during the day. A few holes played a little more with the wind or into the wind.”

Lu, who has never finished better than ninth on the LPGA tour, had seven birdies with just two bogeys.

“I feel pretty good the way I played today and everything just went really smooth,” Lu said. “I’m really happy about it.”

World No. 1 Lorena Ochoa, seeking her fourth straight win and fifth in six starts, headed a group of seven players sharing third place at 68.

Ochoa, who was runner-up here last year, had five birdies and her only error was a bogey at the eighth hole.

The Mexican star has won four of five tournaments this year, with her worst effort a tie for eighth.

“I took advantage of a good round in the afternoon, and tomorrow we will hopefully have better conditions in the morning and I can be a little more aggressive and make more birdies,” Ochoa said. “I’m in position, and I’m going to make sure I give myself a good chance to win the tournament on Sunday.”

Lu insisted she did not feel extra pressure with Ochoa lurking.

“Not really today. I just tried to focus on every shot I hit because I just changed a little bit my swing on Monday, so I just really have to focus on my tempo, otherwise my ball is going to go everywhere,” Lu said. “So I didn’t look at the scoreboard and just played the way I play.”
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