Pernilla Lindberg, who was an alpine skier while growing up in Sweden, is one of the best athletes on the LPGA Tour but she has never won as a professional golfer.
The 31-year-old Lindberg birdied the last two holes to shoot a bogey-free 7-under-par 65 and take a one-stroke lead over Ayako Uehara of Japan and Beatriz Recari of Spain after round one of the ANA Inspiration, the first major of the year on the Dinah Shore Tournament Course at Mission Hills Resort in Rancho Mirage.
“I often get the question, favorite tournament, favorite golf course, and I always say this event and this course,” said Lindberg, who has the lead at the end of a round in a major for the first time. “I like this place and I always feel good playing here.
“I just set a number for myself in my head every day. Today, I kind of kept adjusting that all day when I kept making birdies, and I even kind of upped my own number. That’s what I’m going to do every day.
“I started off solid and ended even better.”
Recari recorded three birdies on each nine in her 66, while Uehara matched that score with five birdies on the front nine and another at No. 18.
Amateur Albane Valenzuela of Stanford and Switzerland shot 67 and is tied for fourth with Jessica Korda and Ha Na Jang of South Korea, who birdied the last three holes.
Second-ranked Lexi Thompson totaled 68 and is tied for seventh with seventh-ranked Cristie Kerr, Brittany Altomare and South Koreans Chella Choi, In Gee Chun and fourth-ranked Sung-Hyun Park.
Ninth-ranked Inbee Park of South Korea is tied for 20th at 70, top-ranked Shanshan Feng of China shot 71 and is in a tie for 36th that includes fifth-ranked I.K. Kim of South Korea, eighth-ranked Ariya Jutanugarn of Thailand shot 72 and is tied for 46th, sixth-ranked Anna Nordqvist of Sweden totaled 73 and is in a tie for 73rd that includes 10th-ranked Hyejin Cho of South Korea, and second-ranked So-Yeon Ryu is tied for 94th at 75.
For complete results, visit http://www.lpga.com/leaderboard.
