When birdies were a rarity on day one at the Blue Bay LPGA Xi Yu Lin managed five birdies in the round. Lin carded a first round, 67, to take a one-stroke lead ahead of Austin Ernst. With a birdie on the 17th hole gave her the outright lead to finish the day at -5.
"Seventeen, because that pin position today is -- well, it's pretty easy for that green. So I was just looking, I should get it close to this hole and try to make a birdie,” said Lin. “I actually hit it a little thin but when the wind is helping, so I wasn't really looking at the ball, and they told me I almost hit in. Yeah, I was pretty surprised."
"I think today is pretty good round for me," described Lin. "Actually when I played in the practice round, I thought, this place is pretty tough, and also I'm pretty surprised what I'm doing today. So I'm really satisfied with my game and my game today."
Ernst, sitting in solo second only one shot back at -4, had a solid first round.
"I had pretty good control of my irons all day coming in from the fairway," said Ernst. "So I can still be aggressive but there are pins you've got to play to a side where you might have to hit it five or ten feet left or right of the pin because if you hit it on the other side, you're going to have a really tough up-and-down."
The wind picked up late in the round so not a lot of low scores on the day.
"Pretty windy out there and then a few of the pins are in kind of tough spots if you get it on the wrong side of the hole," said Ernst. "But I hit it pretty well all day. I gave myself a lot of looks. Made a lot of good putts. A lot of good pars."