Golf fashion leader Paula Creamer of the USA has grabbed a share of the first round lead at the HSBC Women's Champion in Singapore with a five-under-par 67
The American bogeyed the first at the Tanah Merah Country Club, but picked up six birdies in an otherwise faultless round to move alongside compatriot Jane Park and Brazilian Angela Park at the top of the leaderboard.
Korean Lee Seon-hwa, who saw her momentum disrupted by a short delay in play due to lightning, is in a tie for fourth place with Japanese star Ai Miyazato after both opened with 4-under 68s.
Lee was well-placed to finish in the lead when she left the course with three holes remaining, but immediately carded a bogey at the 16th on her return.
She saved par on the 17th, but then bogeyed the last .
Defending champion and world number one Lorena Ochoa, the winner in Thailand last week, is in a group of five players tied sixth after carding a three-under-par 69.
The Mexican star picked up birdies on the first, 10th and 16th while making par on the rest to sit a threatening two shots off the pace.
England's Laura Davies was not as fortunate. She endured a torrid first round, carding nine bogeys for a nine-over-par 81 and unlike Ochoa, is virtually out of this week's race.
Of the other Britons, Scot Catriona Mathew did best with a level-par 72, Karen Stupples shot 73, Janice Moodie 74 and Becky Morgan 79.
The suspension of play came when Creamer had a four-foot birdie putt on the last and she made it after waiting almost an hour.
"I'd rather have to putt than come out and have to play a couple of extra holes," she said. "But I was just kind of bummed that we didn't get to finish so I could go home.
"The beginning part I was very sick, very nauseous and during the middle of the round to the last couple of holes my body felt terrible - chills and aching and all of that.
"For some reason when I'm sick I tend to play a little better than I normally do. I don't know what it is.
"Maybe I'm more relaxed or thinking about that than golf.
It definitely wasn't heat - I drank so many bottles of water I think it's impossible to be dehydrated.
"It must have been something I ate. I haven't been feeling very well for the last couple of days.
"When I woke up this morning I was thinking 'I hope I get to play', but you'll have to carry me out on a stretcher before I'll leave a tournament."
Ochoa commented: "Hopefully I can make a few more birdies tomorrow. I think I need to work a bit more on my irons - most of my putts were long putts - and I need to be a little bit more aggressive."
Collated first-round scores (USA unless stated, par 72):
67 Paula Creamer, Jane Park, Angela Park (Bra)
68 Seon Hwa Lee (Kor), Ai Miyazato (Jpn)
69 Se Ri Pak (Kor), Eun Hee Ji (Kor), Lorena Ochoa (Mex), Angela Stanford, Gwladys Nocera (Fra)
70 Heather Young, Natalie Gulbis, Michele Redman, Shanshan Feng (Chn), Katherine Hull (Aus)
71 Il Mi Chung (Kor), Sun Young Yoo (Kor), In Kyung Kim (Kor), Brittany Lang, Ji-Young Oh (Kor), Louise Friberg (Swe), Mi-Hyun Kim (Kor), Momoko Ueda (Jpn), Carin Koch (Swe)
72 Juli Inkster, Meena Lee (Kor), Katie Futcher, Ya-Ni Tseng (Kor), Ji-Yai Shin (Kor), Jimin Kang (Kor), Hee Young Park (Kor), H J Choi (Kor), Lindsey Wright (Aus), Catriona Matthew (Sco), Song-Hee Kim (Kor), Kristy McPherson, Suzann Pettersen (Nor), Russy Gulyanamitta (Tha), Shiho Oyama (Jpn), Teresa Lu (Tai), Alena Sharp (Can), Sophie Gustafson (Swe)
73 Minea Blomqvist (Fin), Stacy Prammanasudh, Anja Monke (Ger), Karen Stupples (Eng), Morgan Pressel, Hee-Won Han (Kor), Amy Yang, Cristie Kerr, Wendy Ward, Ji-Hee Lee (Jpn), Christina Kim, Sandra Gal (Ger), Leta Lindley, Jee Young Lee (Kor)
74 Na Yeon Choi (Kor), Karrie Webb (Aus), In-Bee Park (Kor), Candie Kung (Tai), Janice Moodie (Sco)
75 Pornanong Phatlum (Tha), Laura Diaz
76 Young Kim (Kor), Jin Joo Hong (Kor), Pat Hurst
77 Giulia Sergas (Ita), Rachel Hetherington (Aus), Nicole Castrale, Helen Alfredsson (Swe)
78 Poh Joey (Sin)
79 Vicky Hurst, Becky Morgan (Wal)
80 Ashleigh Simon (Rsa)
81 Laura Davies (Eng), Diana D'Alessio
82 Allison Fouch, Jill McGill
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HULL LEADS THE WAY
TIGHT AT THE TOP IN SINGAPORE
