Thitikul leads Open as Ryu and Kuwaki chase

AIG Women's Open

-7 A Thitikul (Tha); -5 S Kuwaki (Jpn), H Ryu (Kor); -4 Y Noh (US), C Boutier (Fra); -3 C Iwai (Jpn), C Wannasaen (Tha); -2 P Martin (Esp), L Coughlin (US), C Hull (Eng), R Takeda (Jpn), M Saigo (Jpn), L Woad (Eng), S Tan (Sin).

Selected others: -1 A Hewson (Eng), E Rhodes (Eng), A Fuller (Eng), L Ko (NZ), +1 M Yamashita (Jpn), +2 N Korda.

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World number two Jeeno Thitikul leads the first round of the AIG Women's Open by two shots after a spectacular seven-under 64 at Royal Lytham & St Anne's.

The 23-year-old has 11 top-10 finishes in majors but has never won one, and went bogey-free in a fine start to her latest attempt.

South Korea's Haeran Ryu, aiming to become only the fifth woman in history to claim three majors in a calendar year, is second alongside Japan's Shiho Kuwaki on five under.

England's Lottie Woad and Charley Hull are both on two under, while compatriot Alice Hewson led the tournament in the morning and finished one under.

"Winning one [major] doesn't mean I am going to have a really good, successful career," Thitikul said.

"Winning one doesn't mean much, I would rather be a consistent player, more than just winning one and then gone.

"Sometimes I had a hard time dealing with all the noise."

The world's best golfers performed well in the opening round, with world number one Nelly Korda one of the few stars to fall behind.

Korda remains off the pace after shooting a two-over-par 73 in a round that included four bogeys.