Average start for Aditi Ashok on LPGA

A bogey on each side of the Lake Merced Golf Club meant that Aditi Ashok carded two-over 74 to lie tied 61st after the first round of the LPGA Mediheal Championship.

Aditi, who is having a testing season with just two cuts in seven starts, has a best of T-30 last week at the Hugel-Air Premia LA Open.

Playing in tough conditions at the Mediheal Championships, where the first day's average score was just over 74, Aditi had bogeys on the 16th and ninth after starting from the 10th.

Three players are tied at the top at 5-under 67 and they included LPGA rookie Anne van Dam of the Netherlands and major champions So Yeon Ryu and Eun-Hee Ji of Korea.

They held a one-shot lead over Chinese Taipei's Peiyun Chien, Celine Boutier and Amy Yang at the Par-72 course.

Van Dam has shifted from the Ladies European Tour, where she has won four times in the past, to the LPGA this year. She is looking to become the first Dutch player to win on the LPGA. She leads the Tour in average driving distance at 289.125 yards.

So Yeon Ryu is a six-time LPGA Tour winner, a two-time major champion, the 2017 Rolex Player of the Year and in she was Rookie of the Year.

Eun-Hee Ji holds a share of the lead with 5-under 67, which featured six birdies to a lone bogey. After winning the season-opening Diamond Resorts Tournament of Champions, the 32-year-old Korean has had three additional top-10 finishes.