Park shares three-way lead in Incheon

SEOUL: World number two Park Sung-Hyun fired six birdies to share the LPGA KEB Hana Bank Championship first-round lead with her fellow South Korean Kim Min-Sun and Australia’s Minjee Lee on Thursday.

Park, playing in a mouth-watering grouping that featured the game’s top three players, carded six-under-par 66 to grab the joint overnight lead in Incheon.“I feel great having finished the first round pretty well,” said Park, 24, after her round with top-ranked Ryu So-Yeon and world number three Lexi Thompson at the SKY72 Golf & Resort.

“I hope that this momentum will last until the end,” she said.Kim went on a streak of five birdies in a row to close out her front nine, before finishing with seven birdies against one bogey.

Thompson opened with a four-birdie 69 for a share of 13th, while Ryu, the front-runner for this season’s Player of the Year award, scored a three-birdie 72 to lie 40th.LPGA veteran Cristie Kerr, who just four days ago won the Lacoste Ladies Open de France for her first victory on the Ladies European Tour, scored 67 to lie one shot off the lead.