The first bogey-free round of her career has earned Australian Jess Whitting a share of the lead midway through Round 1 of the Australian Women’s Classic presented by Pacific Bay Resort Studios.

Play resumed at Bonville Golf Resort at 7:15am on Saturday morning, the 14 groups who teed off on Saturday continuing their rounds as those who were forced to wait all day finally got their tournaments underway.

Denmark’s Nicole Broch Estrup was the first to post 6-under 66 and was joined by Taipei’s Peiying Tsai (66) and Whitting, who narrowly missed taking the outright lead when an eagle chance on 18 from nine feet failed to drop.

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Whitting’s round of 6-under matches her career best posted at the Webex Players Series Hunter Valley and has her well-placed with just one round to play of what is now a 36-hole event.

“I was 4-under through 10 holes and I was like, just enjoy it. Just have fun,” said Whitting, who birdied 12 and 18 to reach 6-under.

“You’ve got dad on the bag, don’t stress. And then those last two holes, I just had to get through those. It was so fine.”

Whitting was in the first of the groups who didn’t hit a shot on Friday and credited her mindset during a day of delays for her composure on Saturday.

“Every golfer’s dealt with it and everybody talks about how you have to keep a good mindset and it’s almost just accepting it,” said the 26-year-old.

“I stayed at the golf course so we were playing games and trying to take your mind off it, but you’ve always got to be ready.

“Your brain never switches off the whole time, so you’re exhausted by the end of the day and you’ve not played any golf.

“I’m a big believer in karma, so if you can push through it and it’ll be fine, it’ll pay off in the end.

“Maybe that’s what happened today.”

Out in the first group on Friday, Broch Estrup had two birdies before play was suspended.

She resumed with a bogey when she failed to get up-and-down at the par-4 12th but closed with three birdies in her final four holes to sign off on a 66.

“Obviously yesterday, it was a weird day,” Broch Estrup said.

“We knew it was going to be bad, but my husband said to me this morning, just remember you can’t do anything about the weather.

“We were going out there today not knowing really how many holes we were going to play.

“I was just trying to just take one shot at a time and get as many birdies in as possible.”

Tied for fourth at the Women’s NSW Open a week ago, Tsai drew on the experience of playing alongside eventual champion Mariajo Uribe to once again put herself in contention.

Like Whitting, she completed Round 1 bogey-free, making a tidy up-and-down on her final hole – the par-3 eighth – to also post 66.

"I was really trying to make it bogey-free in this difficult course condition,” said Tsai.

“Make pars and don’t get in the bunkers.

"I only missed maybe three greens, so a lot of greens (in regulation).”

In the early afternoon groups, Samantha Bruce of the Philippines delivered a moment to savour with a hole-in-one at the par-3 11th, slam-dunking her tee shot from 132 metres.

Credit: Tristan Jones/LET