On a blustery day where only 22 players broke par, ALPG star Minjee Lee shares the lead with Thailand’s Moriya Jutanugarn after they both shot impressive 4-under par rounds at the LOTTE Championship Presented by Hershey.
Lee renowned as one of the best ball strikers in the women’s game was delighted with her opening round “It helps if you’re a good ball-striker, but also you need to judge the wind well as well, like how far you want to take it right or if the wind is right to left. You got to have some luck with it, too. It’s not just all your skill. You never know. Mother Nature can throw anything at you. I think I judged it really well today so I’m happy.”

The 19 yearold West Australia star, who claimed her maiden LPGA victory at the 2015 Kingsmill Championship mixed two bogeys with six birdies including one at her final hole on the windswept Ko Olina course in Kapolei on the island of Oahu.

The duo sits a stroke clear of five players - Kim Kaufman, Sei Young Kim, Brooke Henderson, Caroline Masson and Alena Sharp - who all fired opening rounds of 69.

Of the other ALPG players in the field this week, fellow teenager and Lee’s former Australian teammate Su Oh was cruising at 3 under for her round until a 4-putt double bogey 5 at the par 3 16th left her ruing what could have been, signing in the end for a 1 under par 71.  Oh is still in great shape sitting in a tie for 13th place and will hope that the conditions are kinder to the morning players tomorrow than they were today.
Sunshine Coast girls Sarah Jane Smith and Katherine Kirk shot rounds of 1 and 2 over par respectively, while Sarah Kemp was left to rue a triple bogey 7 at the 18th hole which was her ninth of the day, eventually finishing at 3 over par.

Round 2 will be shown live on FoxSports2 from 9am AEDT tomorrow morning.

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