Lauren Coughlin leads LPGA Tour’s CPKC Women’s Open

CALGARY, Alberta — Lauren Coughlin shot a 4-under 68 on Thursday in chilly and windy conditions to take the first-round lead in the CPKC Women’s Open.

Fellow American Jennifer Kupcho was a stroke back with Ariya Jutanugarn of Thailand and Australians Minjee Lee and Hannah Green.

Coughlin opened the round that began on No. 11 with eight straight pars, then had five birdies and bogey on the final 10 holes with the temperature barely climbing into the 60s at Earl Grey Golf Club.

“It was a lot windier than I was expecting, so just had to stay super patient in the beginning,” Coughlin said. “Kind of started getting some putts dropping. It was tough out there for sure, but I hit a lot of really good shots and a lot of good putts.”

Winless on the LPGA Tour, the 31-year-old former University of Virginia player is coming off a fourth-place finish two weeks ago in France in the major Evian Champions.

“Pretty much ever since Evian I’ve been hitting the ball extremely well,” Coughlin said. “To keep it going, even in an off week, felt really good. It’s just trying to be myself and have fun, and then see what I shoot.”

Kupcho had four birdies and a bogey.

“The weather was a bit crazy,” Kupcho said. “I feel like we had three different seasons in 18 holes. Definitely got sunny at the end and that’s when I made all my birdies. Really, just tried to stay patient all day.”

Green is a two-time winner this year, taking the HSBC Women’s World Championship in Singapore in February and the JM Eagle LA Championship in April.

“It was difficult out there,” Green said. “It’s nice that the sun has peeped out. It was pretty cold towards the middle of our round. Just super happy to finish under par this afternoon.”

Three-time champion Lydia Ko of New Zealand topped the group at 70. Ko won as an amateur in 2012 at age 15, successfully defended her title as an amateur in 2013 and won as a professional in 2015.

“It was cold. It was windy,” Ko said. “Tuesday, Wednesday was warm and no wind. So, it felt like I was playing a different golf course. I I knew I needed to stay patient.”

Hye-Jin Choi also was 70 with Alison Lee, Haeran Ryu, Jenny Shin and Gigi Stoll.

Savannah Grewal and Maude-Aimee Leblanc each shot 71 to top the Canadians in the field. Canadian star Brooke Henderson, the 2018 champion, opened with a 72.

“Not really the hot start that I wanted to get off to, but felt like we fought pretty hard,” Henderson said. “It was pretty tough out there this morning. A little cooler and very windy.”

Second-ranked Lilia Vu also shot 71.

Lexi Thompson had a 72. She plans to play a limited schedule after this season.