Australia's Katherine Kirk has fired a four-under-par opening round to sit two shots behind German leader Sandra Gal at the LPGA Tour's Meijer Classic in Baltimore.
Gal, who has missed the cut in three of her past four starts, shot a six-under-par round on Thursday to grab a one-shot lead.
"I was in a zone, I was really relaxed," Gal said.
"I was talking a lot to my caddie and to my playing partners, just kind of letting it happen instead of forcing it, which every so often that's what we golfers do."
Former world No.1 Park In-Bee, of South Korea, posted a five-under 66 during her opening round at Blythefield Country Club and is in sole possession of second place ahead of Kirk, who is alone in third.
Lee Il-Hee, Azahara Munoz, Katy Harris, Gerina Piller, Amy Yang and Line Vedel shot matching three-under 68s to share fourth place.
Michelle Wie, who captured her first major title at the US Women's Open this season, pulled out during the first round because of a hand injury.
"I don't know what happened," Wie said.
"It just started hurting last week and just started getting worse and got to the point where I couldn't really hold a club today.
"So I'm just going to try to get an MRI right now and see what my next steps are. Hopefully I can play next week, so we'll see."
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