Thailand's Ariya Jutanugarn birdied the final four holes of her opening round for an eight-under 65 and a one-stroke lead over Brooke Henderson at the Reignwood LPGA Classic.
In position to take the player of the year lead from an idle Lydia Ko with a ninth-place finish or better, Jutanugarn had 10 birdies and two bogeys in the round.
"All the players really want to win the award like player of the year,'' Jutanugarn said.
``I really want to, but right now I think I'm not really worry I'm going to win. I think I just have to be like, `Just keep play like this and have fun on the course.'''
The 20-year-old Thai player is No. 2 in the world and leads the LPGA Tour with five victories.
Winless entering the season, she won three straight events in May, took the Women's British Open in July and the Canadian Pacific Women's Open in August.
"I feel good, because like this year the only goal I want to do is I want to win my first tournament, so I did,'' Jutanugarn said.
"After I won my first tournament on tour, I really want to win a major, and I did. So, right now just have fun and enjoy on the course.''
The fourth-ranked Henderson birdied three of the final four holes in a bogey-free round.
The 19-year-old Canadian won the Women's PGA in June for the first of her two victories this season and plans to play all six events in Asia.
Australia's Sarah Jane Smith is four shots off the lead after a four-under 69 which included six birdies and two bogeys, sher is tied for eighth.
The only other Australian in the field, Su Oh is three-under after an up-and-down round where she turned four-under before making bogeys on her 11th, 12th and 14th holes and then finishing with two consecutive birdies.
