Auston Kim recorded an opening-round 66 to sit atop a packed leaderboard at the HSBC Women's World Championship in Singapore on Thursday.
Her seven birdies, mixed with one bogey, gave the American a one-shot lead over Liu Yan of China. She is two shots in front of a five-player group tied for third after rounds of 68, and three strokes ahead of a contingent of six women tied at three-under 69.
Leona Maguire is in a tie for 28th after three birdies and bogeys in a level-par 72, six shots off the leader Kim.
All of the players had to muddle through high humidity and temperatures around 30 degrees at Sentosa Golf Club.
Kim, an LPGA Tour member since 2024, has been knocking on the door of her first tour win. She has eight finishes in the top 10 and was the runner-up at the KPMG Women's PGA Championship last season.
"Mission accomplished today," said Kim, 25, who played collegiately at Vanderbilt. "I feel like I won the day today. But there are still three more rounds. I really enjoyed playing today. I had a lot of fun and I felt like I stuck to my process really well."
Her process has included mental coaching.
"There are a lot of things that I've changed and a lot of things I feel like I'm doing better," Kim said. "Today was a testament to what we've been working on, and I'm working hard on what I can control.
"Obviously one of the things that we talked about this past week was trying to win each day, win each shot, and I feel like I did a really good job of it."
Denmark's Nanna Koerstz Madsen is one of the golfers tied at three-under. She played the front nine at par and recorded three birdies on the back side.
"I was just staying patient. A lot of pins were tucked close to the edges, "she said. "So it was all about just trying to get them a little bit close but still stay on the safe side and make a couple of putts. Didn't make that many mistakes."
Neither did tour rookie Lindy Duncan, who mixed five birdies and a bogey to move into the third-place tie. She hit 12 of 14 fairways and 15 of 18 greens in regulation.
"Pretty hot. Pretty sweaty out there," she said.
"I had some lucky breaks, like on 17, the par-three. But yeah, I just managed to make pars out of bad shots into the green and then hole the putts when I had chances for birdie. Overall it was pretty solid but there's a lot to improve on."
She is joined in the tie for third place with Linn Grant of Sweden, Miyu Yamashita of Japan, Haeran Ryu of South Korea and Mimi Rhodes of England.
Defending champion Lydia Ko is four shots back after a round of 70. World number one Jeeno Thitikul, who won last week in her native Thailand, finished with a one-over 73.
Meanwhile play was suspended early in the day at the Ford Women's NSW Open in Australia due to a flooded course.
The first round at Wollongong Golf Club got underway on Thursday morning before the horn sounded at 12.55pm local time following heavy rainfall in New South Wales.
Following further rainfall and with a new band of weather developing, it was decided that no further golf will be played today.
Round one of the Ford Women’s NSW Open, co-sanctioned with the WPGA Tour of Australasia, will resume on Friday at 08:00 local time.
Denmark’s Sofie Kibsgaard Nielsen and Germany’s Alexandra Försterling share the clubhouse lead after battling through brutal conditions to card rounds of 69 (-2).
The latter recovered well after going out in 37 (+2) carding four birdies in five holes following the turn.
