Mexico's Lorena Ochoa stumbled to a four-over-par 76 in the first round of the USLPGA MasterCard Classic, putting her in a group of 16 competitors tied for 77th place.
Jill McGill fared better over the first round of the US$1.3 million event, carding a five-under 67 to take a one-shot lead.
Winless in this event in three attempts, Ochoa did little to help her cause on Friday. The top-ranked player in the world, she bogeyed twice before the turn and again on No. 11 before it appeared her luck had changed.
PHOTO: AP
But after consecutive birdies on Nos. 12 and 13, Ochoa closed the round with three bogeys on the last five holes.
This is just the second outing of the season for Ochoa, who skipped the first two events of the season in Hawaii before making her debut two weeks ago in Singapore, where she cruised to victory at the HSBC Championship.
As poor of a performance Ochoa had, defending champion Meaghan Francella was worse. The third-year pro did not record a birdie while bogeying eight times and adding a double-bogey on the par-4 eighth hole.
Taiwan's Tseng Ya-ni and South Korean Oh Ji-young were both one shot back at four-under 68.
Oh bogeyed just once while making five birdies, while Tseng had six birdies against a pair of bogeys.
Candie Kung of Taiwan was tied for fourth on 70 with Koreans Gloria Park and Yi Eun-jung.
The only player ranked in the top 10 other than Ochoa in the event is No. 8 South Korean Jeong Jang, who is tied for 10th.
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