A six-under-par round of 67 was enough to give England's Kirsty Taylor a one-shot lead after the first round of the Madrid Ladies Masters.
The 29-year-old, who hails from Overton in Hampshire, carded seven birdies and one bogey in glorious weather at Casino Club de Golf Retamares.
She finished the day one ahead of Scotland's Catriona Matthew and the Spanish duo of Paula Marti and Tania Elosegui.
The 2002 Ladies European Tour Rookie of the Year, Taylor hopes to improve on her career-best finishes of third at the 2002 Wales WPGA Championship of Europe and joint third at the 2006 Tenerife Ladies Open this week.
"I feel like I'm striking the ball really well this year. One day hopefully it will sit into place," said Taylor, whose best finish this year was a tie for fourth at the ABN AMRO Ladies Open in Holland.
"It has been a bit of an up-and-down season. I feel like I've played really well but not quite finished it off. I'm happy though; it could be a lot worse.
"I am very pleased because I just played very steady today. I didn't miss many fairways or many greens and tried to keep it going. For the first time, I've had 25 putts in a round, which is pretty exciting for me."
Taylor chipped in from a bunker to save par at the first hole, and then birdied the third, seventh, eighth and ninth going out, with one bogey at the fourth. She came back in three under par after further birdies at the 10th, 15th and 18th.
Marti, the 2002 Order of Merit winner, was hot on her heels after firing eight birdies and three bogeys. The two-time LET champion from Barcelona is hoping to build on her seven top-10 finishes so far this season.
"Today was really solid and I hit it really close, which was the key. My birdie putts were short ones. I've been practising those putts a lot and I think I am getting more consistent in making them," the 28-year-old said.
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