Angela Stanford, Michelle Wie and Candie Kung lead the field after the opening round of the Lorena Ochoa Invitational as Australian Katherine Hull finds herself two strokes off the pace. Aiming for her first title on tour since 2010, Wie made an impressive start to the tournament at the Guadalajara Country Club in Mexico, starting with consecutive birdies on the first two holes, before the 23-year-old fired off four straight birdies from the 10th hole onwards. Having claimed the first of her two LPGA tour titles at the Invitational in 2009, Wie is in a good position to break her tournament drought, having finished the opening day with a six-under 66. However, she faces some stern opposition from compatriot Stanford and American-Taiwanese player Kung, who are both also on six-under after the first round. Stanford was left to rue a bogey on the fourth hole before she recovered to post seven birdies in 11 holes from the eighth onwards. Like Wie, Kung also opened impressively as she birdied three of the opening four holes before a bogey on the fifth halted her run. But a further four birdies on the back nine saw her move level on top of the leaderboard. The trio are one stroke ahead of five players at five-under, comprising of Americans Stacy Lewis and Cristie Kerr, South Koreans Inbee Park and So Yeon Ryu, along with Frenchwoman Karine Icher. Australian Hull, the only Aussie in the field, is a further stroke behind after a bogey on the 17th hole, slightly cancelled out the five birdies she had to her name by that stage. Former winner I.K Kim is level with Hull on four-under, while tournament host Ochoa only managed a one-under 71 to be level with another former winner in Scottish woman Catriona Matthew.
Author: Omnisport