Bianca Pagdanganan of the Philippines lifted off to her strongest start this season, firing a four-under-par 67 on Thursday boosting her pursuit of her first ever LPGA title.

The 26-year-old Pagdanganan leaned on her long drives, averaging 266 yards, to come tied at eighth place after the opening round of the JM Eagle LA Championship at Wilshire Country Club.

Just three shots off the leader, she birdied the first and the seventh and made up for her bogey at 8 with a three-hole birdie binge from the 13th.

Pagdanganan, who failed to make the cut twice in seven starts this season, hit 11 of 14 fairways and reached 14 of 18 greens in regulation.

Australia’s Grace Kim had seven birdies in her seven-under-par 64 to take a one-shot lead. Kim capped her round at Wilshire Country Club with an unlikely birdie at the 18th to finish the day a stroke clear of Sweden’s Maja Stark, Thailand’s Chanettee Wannasaen and South Korean Kim Sei-young.

“Well, I chunked my tee shot on the last hole 20 meters short and then I chipped it in,” Kim said. “I think that’s pretty cool, in front of everyone.”

Otherwise, Kim said, it was a straightforward day with plenty of birdie opportunities.

“I think I hit a lot of fairways, maybe missed one or two fairways, and then the shots I hit close, there were probably a handful so a lot of good birdie opportunities today,” she said.

Stark also played without a bogey, picking up four strokes on the front nine before making two more birdies coming in — all despite the fatigue lingering in the wake of her runner-up finish to world number one Nelly Korda at the Chevron Championship near Houston on Sunday.

“I was so tired when I got here,” Stark said. “I’ve barely been practicing, just did a little bit of what I needed to do.”

Korda, whose victory in the first women’s major of the year was her fifth in five starts — equaling an LPGA record — withdrew from this week’s event on Monday saying she needed some rest in preparation for the rest of the season.

Grace Kim, who won the Lotte Championship in Hawaii last year, missed the cut at the Chevron but said a fresh approach had helped her on Thursday.

“If I was to compare my round today to last week, I really focused on just not having too much in my mind,” she said. “I think I over-thought a lot of things through my first and second round last week and struggled a little bit mentally.”