Canada's Brooke Henderson tied for 18-hole lead at LPGA season opener

Published Thursday, January 17, 2019 4:52PM EST

Brooke Henderson of Canada tees off on the 18th hole during the first round of the Sime Darby LPGA golf tournament at Tournament Players Club (TPC) in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Oct. 26, 2017. (AP Photo/Sadiq Asyraf)

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LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. -- Canada's Brooke Henderson is tied for the lead after the opening round of the LPGA Tour's season-opening Diamond Resorts Tournament of Champions.

The 21-year-old native of Smiths Falls, Ont., carded a six-under 65 to put her on top along with Korean Eun-Hee Ji at a 26-player event limited to golfers who have won on tour the past two years.

The leaders are one stroke ahead of Lydia Ko of New Zealand and American Stacy Lewis, who was playing her first tournament since giving birth to her first child last year.

After bogeying the second hole, Henderson had nothing but birdies and pars the rest of the way. She had five birdies on her back nine to vault to the top of the leaderboard.

Ariya Jutanugarn, the world's No. 1 player who captured every major award last year, opened with a 67.

While Henderson finished strong, Ji was steady in a bogey-free round at Four Seasons Golf and Sports Club.

Twenty of the 26 players were at par or better.

Henderson finished fourth on the LPGA money list last year after winning two events.