LPGA: Karrie Webb clings to lead at Ladies Scottish Open

LPGA Tour veteran Karrie Webb fired a 7-under-par 65 on Thursday to grab a one-shot lead after the first round of the Aberdeen Asset Management Ladies Scottish Open in North Ayrshire, Scotland.

The 42-year-old Australian, who has 56 wins on the Ladies European Tour and LPGA Tour combined, was 6 under on the back nine to overtake Cristie Kerr, who had been the leader in the clubhouse much of the day after firing a 6-under 66.

"When we were warming up and our first few holes, obviously it was really cold and really windy," Webb said. "I looked at the scoreboard and saw that Cristie Kerr shot 6 under, and I was like, what course did she play today?

"Then I sort of really hung in there through the front nine and made a nice birdie on nine to turn at 1 under, and then just really started swinging at it well and hitting it quite close and had some good birdie chances and made the most of them."

Webb is trying to turn around a difficult season. She is 106th on the LPGA money list.

"Yeah, it's been a bit of an unusual year for me," Webb said. "I haven't enjoyed how I've played much at all but I really did feel at the U.S. Open, I turned a corner a little bit. Probably just more mentally than anything. Just trusting the work that I've done and you know, just backing myself a little bit more."

Kerr made four birdies on the back nine and is three strokes ahead of five players who are tied for third. Those shooting 3-under 69s included Stacy Lewis, Lina Boqvist of Sweden, Pornanong Phatlum of Thailand and South Koreans Sei Young Kim and Inbee Park.

Kerr did not have a bogey in her round, which took place in worse conditions than what Webb faced.

"It's never easy here," Kerr said. "You can never take anything for granted. You've just got to try to do as well as you can do on each shot and that was my goal. It was still tough to stand over the shots that you needed to execute, and it's never easy here. So, I'm very pleased with the score."

Kerr said she likes links golf, and said she benefits from the difficult conditions.

"It's actually some of my favorite golf," she said. "I told my caddie that on the back nine, that it seems like the tougher the conditions, the more I like it for some reason. I like to be challenged mentally, and you know, these kind of conditions force you to focus on the shot at hand and not get ahead of yourself, and I did that really well today."

Tied for eighth at 2 under are Annabel Dimmock of England, Pernilla Lindberg of Sweden, Ally McDonald, Caroline Masson of Germany, Suzann Pettersen of Norway and Shanshan Feng of China.

Defending Ladies Scottish Open champion Isabelle Boineau shot an opening round 76.