World No. 1 Stacy Lewis shot a six-under 65 yesterday to take a one-stroke lead at the Sime Darby LPGA Malaysia, the second event of the tour’s six-tournament Asian swing.
Lewis birdied the par-five 16th hole to break away from a tight leaderboard at the Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country Club. Tied for second were the South Korean quartet of Choi Na-yeon, Park Hee-young, Ji Eun-hee and Ryu So-yeon.
Golfers from South Korea have won six of the past seven LPGA tournaments.
Photo: EPA
Amy Yang of South Korea and China’s Feng Shanshan were among a group tied for sixth after shooting 67.
Natalie Gulbis shot a 69, Karrie Webb carded a 70 and Lexi Thompson — who won by four strokes in Kuala Lumpur last year — had a 71. Taiwan’s Candie carded an even-par 71, while Paula Creamer shot a 75.
“My goal was to shoot a one or two-under on the front and I got off to a good start,” Lewis said. “It was kind of shaky on the first three holes, but I just hung in there and gave myself a lot of birdie chances, and I was fortunate to make a few. So it was a little bit of an ugly round, but I got a lot out of it.”
Choi, who teed off from the 10th, said she was pleased to be only one stroke behind after nearly putting her ball in the water on her approach on the par-four second hole, her 11th of the day.
“I had one bogey out there, but I was lucky the ball did not roll into the water,” Choi said. “I hope to come back with a good feeling tomorrow.”
Feng finished tied for 49th place in her native China last week and said she was happy to be playing away from home this week.
“I’m more relaxed,” Feng said. “Last week, I think people wanted me to win again and I told everybody I was not going to give myself pressure, but I think I still did a little bit. I tried too hard and actually it went the wrong way.”
Last week, South Korea’s Mirim Lee won the Reignwood Classic in Beijing for her second victory of the year.
The LPGA KEB-HanaBank starts on Thursday in South Korea, followed by the Blue Bay LPGA in China.
Additional reporting by staff writer
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