Minjee Lee birdied three of her last four holes to keep herself in contention after the opening round of the Lotte Championship in Hawaii.
Lee slipped to one-over par midway through her round but a birdie run from her 15th hole through to her 17th put her back on track at the Ko Olina Golf Club.
The world No.15 and top-ranked Australian sits in a tie for 18th place after carding a two-under par 70.
Lee counts the 2016 title among her three LPGA victories after finishing with a 16-under par 272 in winning by a stroke.
She is three shots off the leader Shanshan Feng who fired an almost fault less 67.
Feng returned to the Lotte Championship in style but the Chinese golfer said she was still coming to terms with the fact she is world No.1.
She skipped the Lotte event last year for the first time since it was added to the LPGA Tour in 2012 amid a diplomatic row between China and South Korea, the home country of the tournament's sponsor.
Feng, who has been the world's top-ranked women's golfer for the past 22 weeks, said she never could have imagined becoming No.1 when she started playing the game as a 10-year-old in China,.
She had little access to quality training facilities and could only get on a course once per week.
While Chinese golf still lags Asian neighbours South Korea and Japan, Feng says it is growing quickly.
The 28-year-old has been a key part of that growth, boosting the status of the sport by become China's first golf major champion at the 2012 Women's PGA Championship and opening her own golf academy.
