Park takes first round lead in LA Open

LOS ANGELES: South Korea’s Park In-bee fired a five-under par 66 to grab on a one stroke lead after the first round of the USLPGA Tour’s inaugural LA Open on Thursday.

Park rolled in four straight birdies beginning at the par-three No. 12 and is one shot ahead of American Marina Alex at the Wilshire Country Club course. “I played really well out there. Especially being the new golf course. I didn’t know how it was going to play,” Park said. “The course played really good. Really suited me. I putted well out there, so I was really happy with that.” A large group is just two shots adrift of Park at three-under par, including Swede Pernilla Lindberg, Lexi Thompson, Caroline Inglis, Aditi Ashok, Thailand’s Moriya Jutanugarn, Ji Eun-hee and Emma Talley of the US.

Park decided to switch back to her old putter for this event after trying out a new one in recent weeks. Los Angeles is home to a large South Korean expat community and they were out in force Thursday to cheer on Park.“I never played a tournament outside of Korea having this much Korean supporters out,” said Park, who needed just 28 putts in her round. “I almost feel like I’m playing back home’’.