Hu storms to three-shot lead at Wanning Women's Golf Open

Hu Jing set the early pace at the Wanning Women's Golf Open on Thursday as the veteran from Hong Kong, China, battled through wet conditions to shoot a five-under 67 for a three-shot lead in the opening round of the penultimate tournament of the CLPG Tour season.

Beijing native Shi Yuli carded a birdie on her final hole at Oak Forest Golf Club for a two-under 70 to sit alone in second place at the RMB 500,000 tournament, a new event on the CLPG Tour schedule.

Thais Kusuma Meechai, Pattamavadee Kittikanok and Wannasiri Sirisampant, Indonesia's Patricia Sinolungan, and China's Fan Shuangshuang and Zhang Jingwen were equal third on one-under 71.

Tang Rongze and Liu Yujie were the top amateurs on even-par 72, tied for equal ninth with Chinese pros Chen Yulin, Xu Ying, Liu Yuqi and Li Dongmei, Thailand's Sherman Santiwiwatthanaphong and Misaki Takagi of Japan.

Hu, who has never finished higher than ninth at a CLPG Tour event, started her morning round on the mountainous Oak Forest back nine and held steady to card five birdies through her first 15 holes. After dropping her only shot at the 546-yard, par-five seventh hole, her 16th hole, she closed with a birdie three at her final hole, the 313-yard ninth.

"I played quite well today. Honestly, I'm very satisfied. There were a few little hiccups in the middle but overall I had really good luck. I'd give myself a 95 out of 100," said the 24-year-old, ranked 1225th in the world.

"My putting was very solid today and that's really important on this course. Today I tried to leave myself putts from distances where I could settle in and stroke it comfortably. On the par-three 12th hole my tee shot wasn't great, but I chipped in for birdie from the left side. I started on the 10th hole, so getting a chip-in that early did gave me confidence," she added.