MORELIA, Mexico – Defending champion Lorena Ochoa shot a bogey-free 8-under-par 65 on Thursday to take a one-stroke lead over Michelle Wie and Na Yeon Choi after the first round of the LPGA Tour’s Corona Championship.
“It was a good day,” said Ochoa, a former Arizona Wildcat. “There is really not much more to add if you look at the score. I’m very happy because I’m in control.
“It’s very exciting to be in a position that I like. Hopefully, we can stay there the next three days, because my goal is to win it.”
Wie, who started on No. 10, eagled the par-5 fifth and birdied three of her final four holes. After opening the season with a second-place finish at Turtle Bay, she tied for 57th in Phoenix and tied for 67th in the Kraft Nabisco – shooting 71-81-81-71.
Eunjung Yi, Anna Nordqvist, Sandra Gal and Sarah Lee shot 67s, and Silvia Cavalleri, Kristy McPherson, Katherine Hull, Jill McGill and Mollie Fankhauser had 68s.
Second-ranked Yani Tseng and No. 5-ranked Suzann Pettersen were four strokes back at 69, No. 6 Cristie Kerr had a 70, and No. 4 Paul Creamer shot a 72.
Brittany Lincicome, coming off a win in the Kraft Nabisco, an LPGA major, on April 5, was 10 strokes behind Ochoa after a 75.
Zurich Classic
AVONDALE, La. – South Korea’s Charlie Wi took advantage of soft early morning conditions to shoot a bogey-free 6-under 66 for a one-stroke lead after the first round of the Zurich Classic.
Jay Williamson, Nathan Green, Parker McLachlin, Charles Warren, John Merrick and Eric Axley opened with 67s. Former tournament winner David Toms topped a group at 68, and Masters runner-up Kenny Perry had a 69.
Danny Lee had a triple bogey on No. 4 and shot a 76 in his pro debut. The 18-year-old South Korean-born New Zealander missed the cut in the Masters as an amateur. He broke Tiger Woods’ mark as the youngest U.S. Amateur champion last year and became the European tour’s youngest winner in February at the Johnnie Walker Classic.
Ballantine’s Championship
JEJU ISLAND, South Korea – Spain’s Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano, coming off consecutive second-place finishes, and New Zealand’s Mark Brown shot 7-under 65s to share the first-round lead in the Ballantine’s Championship.
Thailand’s Thongchai Jaidee, England’s Robert Dinwiddie and South Korea’s Kang Kyung-nam opened with 66s on the Pinx course. South African star Ernie Els had a 68, and Fred Couples shot a 69 in the event sanctioned by the European and Asian tours.