Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – Brittany Lang shot a five-under 66 Thursday to grab a share of the lead after the opening round of the Sime Darby LPGA Malaysia.
Lang was joined atop the leaderboard at Kuala Lumpur Golf & Country Club by Maria Hjorth, Na Yeon Choi and Dewi Claire Schreefel.
Paige Mackenzie and Azahara Munoz are one stroke off the lead at minus-four.
I.K. Kim and Shanshan Feng posted three-under 68s and they share seventh place with four players from the 2011 Solheim Cup - Michelle Wie, Stacy Lewis, Suzann Pettersen and Christel Boeljon.
Women's world No. 1 Yani Tseng and defending champion Jimin Kang are among six players that are tied for 13th at minus-two.
Lang opened with a pair of pars, then birdied the third and fifth. She also converted a birdie try at the eighth to make the turn at minus-three.
Around the turn, Lang dropped a shot on the par-four 11th, but got that stroke right back with a birdie on No. 12. She parred her next three holes before converting back-to-back birdie chances at 16 and 17. Lang parred the last to post 66.
Hjorth started on the back nine Thursday and birdied 11 and 12. She remained at minus-two until a bogey at the 18th dropped her to one-under.
The Swede drained three straight birdies efforts from the fourth to get within one of the lead. Hjorth birdied the par-four ninth, her last, to end at minus- five.
Choi parred her first four holes, then stumbled to a bogey on the par-three fifth. She came right back with birdies on each of the next three holes to move to minus-two. Choi birdied three of the last four holes to grab a share of the lead.
Schreefel started with birdies on the 10th and 12th. After faltering to a bogey on No. 14, she erased that error with a birdie on the 15th. Schreefel birdied the 18th to make the turn at minus-three.
She parred the first four holes around the turn. Schreefel carded birdies on the fifth and eighth to join the others at five-under.
NOTES: Tseng, who won her sixth title of the year last week, had three birdies and a bogey in her round of 69...Kang had a bogey and 11 pars through 12 holes, then birdied three of four holes from the 12th...This is the second year of this tournament...Last year, the event was 54 holes, but has expanded to 72 this year.
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