Brittany Lang fired a six-under 66 to take the
first-round lead Friday at the Mizuno Classic.
Nobuko Kizawa and Hee Young Park are tied for second place at five-under 67,
while Vicky Hurst, Bo-Bae Song, Mi Jeong Jeon and 2007 champion Momoko Ueda
are knotted at four-under 68.
Defending champion Jiyai Shin leads a large group at 69, 2006 winner Karrie
Webb headlines a block of players at 70 and world No. 1 Lorena Ochoa leads a
cluster tied at 71.
Fifty-one players shot par or better Friday on the Kintetsu Kashikojima
course, more than 65 percent of the 78-player field.
Everyone was looking up at Lang, a member of the victorious U.S. Solheim Cup
team who is coming off back-to-back top-10 finishes, including a seventh-place
tie last week in South Korea.
"I've worked really hard these last couple of months, so everything is falling
into place," she said.
Lang started her first round on the back nine and birdied her first two holes,
rolling in putts from 25 and 12 feet. She added an 18-foot birdie at the 17th
to make the turn at three-under par.
Then, the 24-year-old from Richmond, Va., really turned it on.
She knocked a nine-iron from 125 yards to about a foot on No. 2 for a birdie
and holed a 10-footer for birdie at No. 5.
Lang reached as low as seven-under when she chipped in for an eagle at the
485-yard seventh, but she then bogeyed the par-three eighth -- her only
dropped shot of the round.
Still, Lang walked off the course a leader and two rounds closer to her first
win on the LPGA Tour.
"It's going to happen sooner or later," Lang said of capturing her first
victory, "so I just have to try to play my best everyday and just have a lot
of fun."
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