Leona Maguire and Stephanie Meadow are off the early pace after the opening round at the Maybank Championship in Kuala Lumpur, Malayisa.
Meadow is six shots off the lead held by Thailand's Thidapa Suwannapura on three under in a tie for 22nd after a 69, while Maguire is a two strokes further back, tied for 52nd, after a 71.
Starting on the back nine, the early part of the round was a mixed one for Meadow, with the biggest setback coming with a double bogey on the par-4 12th before she dropped another shot on the next hole.
However, that three-over run was sandwiched by birdies on the 10th and 14th to mitigate the damage.
The front nine was much better as she went bogey-free, boosted by a quartet of birdies on the first, third, sixth and eighth holes.
Maguire also dropped a shot on 12, which was one of three bogeys for the Cavan woman including on two and 10.
But the two-time winner on the LPGA Tour birdied consecutively on four and five, as well as on nine and 13, to go into Friday's second round under par.
At the top of the leaderboard, Suwannapura's career-low 63 has her one shot clear of Australia's Hannah Green.
One shot further back on seven under are Gina Kim, Grace Kim, Linn Grant, Peiyun Chien and Rose Zhang.
Steamy conditions greeting the golfers in the morning before play was suspended at 1.53pm, only to resume after a three-hour, 48-minute weather delay. Thirty-two players failed to complete the first round before play stopped due to darkness.
Suwannapura went off in the first group off the tee and played a bogey-free round highlighted by seven birdies and an eagle on the par-4 14th. Three other players eagled the drivable hole, and 44 carded a birdie.
"First couple holes I try to play kind of little safe, on safe side, because I only play six holes for the practice round and get to walk on the back nine on pro-am day on the cart path, so I don't really know the course," Suwannapura said.
"I feel like with low expectation today then the result come out really good. A lot of putts drop for me, and it's good feeling to start with a lowscore this week for sure."
The two-time PGA winner has the first-round lead or co-leader position for the third time in her career. She hit every fairway (14 of 14) in regulation.
"Every single shot, even par-5, it's either go for it or lay up. It's very narrow so everything has to be perfect here to have a chance to make birdies here," she said.
Green sank her final birdie of the day at the 18th just before the threat of lightning prompted the lengthy delay.
Green said she was thinking that, "I really don't want to be stuck on the putting green with who knows how long of a delay. So it was nice for that putt to fall in, and obviously in good position for the tournament."
Additional reporting: Reuters
