South Korea’s Chang-Hee Lee capitalized the beautiful conditions and shot a first-round leading 6-under 66 at the Yeang Der TLPGA Ladies Open. This is Lee’s sixth TLPGA Tour entry and her previous best finish has been a tie for eighth at the Fubon Ladies Open last October, which was held right on the same course this week, the Tong Hwa Golf & Country Club.

“I feel really good here because I’ve played here once. The greens are slower and it’s not very long course, so I’m glad I played some very good short-game and finished in a good position,“ said Lee, who fired seven birdies with only one bogey on her scorecard.

There is a group of three young local players looming with only one-shot off her pace. Chien Pei-Yun (錢珮芸), Kuo Ai-Chen (郭艾榛) and Hsu Wei-Ling (徐薇淩) all shot a 5-under 67 at the NT$3,000,000 TLPGA event. It was Chien’s career-best round on the Tour with her bogey-free performance.

Chien won the 2012 Wintek Spring Qualification and gave herself a shot on the Symetra Tour (LPGA Futures Tour) with the prize sponsorship. She said the experience has helped tone down her attacking play to more controlled aggressiveness. Chien has played 11 events on the Symetra Tour and sits at year-end 95th-ranked in 2012.

LPGA Tour player Amy Hung (洪沁慧) came back at the home event despite a back strain that have pulled her out of the two season-opening games and is currently tied for fifth with Yu Pei-Lin (余珮琳) with 68. Hung hit the lowest 24 putts to the bunch but she said she wanted to take it lightly and hoped to be just able to finish all three rounds considering her back condition.

Defending champion Hsieh Yu-Ling (謝瑀玲) posted a 2-over round of 74 and tied for 35th.