Carlota Ciganda, Hye-Jin Choi and Ruoning Yin shot 6-under rounds of 65 Thursday to share the first-round lead at the Dana Open in Sylvania, Ohio.
Spanish veteran Ciganda and Korean rookie Choi had bogey-free rounds with six birdies, while Chinese 19-year-old Yin made five of her seven birdies on the back nine at Highland Meadows Golf Club.
They held a slight edge over a star-specked group tied at 5-under 66: Lexi Thompson, New Zealand's Lydia Ko, Leona Maguire of Ireland, Denmark's Emily Kristine Pedersen, Aline Krauter of Germany, South Korea's Hyo Joo Kim, Amy Olson and Lauren Stephenson.
Though Ciganda hasn't won on the LPGA Tour since 2016, she has racked up six career Ladies European Tour titles, most recently in July in her native Spain. She credited her recent success to a caddie swap.
"I have a new caddie that we started at the end of last year, and it's been good," Ciganda said. "It's taking time for us to get to know each other, but he's really good on the greens and gives me a lot of confidence on my putting."
Ciganda birdies the par-3 second hole and the par-4 fourth before adding four birdies on the back nine.
"I really like this place and I started very solid. I hit a lot of greens, great shots on 1, 2, 3, and I made like 15-footer on 2 and a 10-footer on 3 for birdie," she said. "Then I just told myself to keep giving chances, hit greens. I think it's key on this golf course."
Choi was a third-round co-leader last week at the CP Women's Open before finishing tied for second. She continued her stellar form by birdieing three of her first four holes. Yin rolled in birdies at Nos. 9, 10 and 11 to propel her to a late surge.
Thompson shook off an opening bogey by hitting birdies on Nos. 2 and 3. She was warmed up by the end of her round, with four birdies in a five-hole stretch, Nos. 13-17.
The American star is hunting for her first victory since June 2019.
"I've been practicing hours and hours a day and putting in the time in the gym," Thompson said. "That's what a lot of people don't see. So that's all I can do. I can put in the work, put in the time, and (it's) just fun to see to pay off."
Ko, the world No. 4, started on the back nine and birdied four of the last six holes there, including both the 17th and 18th, a rare finish of two straight par-5s.
Tied for 12th at 4-under 67 were Australia's Minjee Lee, A Lim Kim and So Yoen Ryu of South Korea, China's Xiyu Lin, Gaby Lopez of Mexico and Sarah Schmelzel.
At No. 3 in the world, Lee is the highest-ranked player in the field. She had a bogey-free round with four birdies.
"I just came into today with not too high of expectations ... I feel like I'm in a pretty good place and I can improve on today going into tomorrow, so hopefully, yeah, some low scores tomorrow and on the weekend," Lee said.
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