Pak shares the lead in Hawaii

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Se Ri Pak braved the windy conditions to grab a share of the lead after the opening round at the LPGA Lotte Championship.

Pak is joined by fellow South Korean’s So Yeon Ryu And Hyo-Joo Kim, all carding four under 68’s at Ko Olina Golf Club.

Ayako Uehara of Japan is on her own in second after shooting a three under 69 and former world number one Michelle Wie is back on two under.

“First of all, it was really windy out there, a lot windier than last year,” said 36-year-old Pak.

“We didn’t have this wind before, but it’s just stronger and stronger and never did slow down. I mean, it was really hard to choose a club to every hole.

“Off the tee, off the fairway, on the green, all day you just have so much focus on the wind because it was really blowing hard, you had to adjust for it.”

Pak is coming off a poor 2013, where she failed to record a win. But she started strong on Thursday and was on three under after five holes after an eagle three on the par five fifth. A bogey on the eighth and a couple more birdies would cap off an impressive round.

Meanwhile, Ryu also alluded to the tough conditions, saying that they affected her putting.

“The wind was pretty strong, so it was really hard to play with this much strong wind, said Ryu.

“The most difficult part was sometimes a wind gust was super, extremely strong, so also it was affecting the putting. It was really hard to read a line. The really good thing is my iron game was really nice.”

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