NEW YORK (AFP) — American Andrea Lee birdied four of her last five holes to grab a one-stroke lead after Thursday’s opening round of the LPGA Mizuho Americas Open.

Lee fired a six-under par 66, her low round of the year, to top the leaderboard at Mountain Ridge Country Club in West Caldwell, New Jersey.

“I really didn’t see six-under today to be honest, so I’m quite pleased,” Lee said. “The game plan was just staying really patient, trying to hit as many greens and fairways as possible, and just know par is a good score and trying to minimize bogeys.”

Thailand’s second-ranked Jeeno Thitikul and ninth-ranked Lydia Ko of New Zealand shared second on 67, both sparked by four-under starts on their front nine holes.

American Brooke Matthews and South Korean Choi Hye-jin shared fourth on 68.

World number 24 Lee, a back-nine starter, answered a bogey at 11 with birdies at 12 and 13.

She added back-to-back birdies at 18 and one before a bogey at the second, then came home with birdies at the fifth, par-five sixth and eighth holes and the ninth.

“I rolled the rock really well,” Lee said. “But it honestly just came. I wasn’t really expecting anything.

“Just picked really good start lines and hit the ball where I wanted to and visualized all the putts going in and they did, so that was pretty nice.”

Jeeno began with a birdie and responded to a bogey at the third with birdies at the par-five sixth and par-three seventh followed by an eagle at the par-five eighth and a final birdie at the par-three 16th to finish on 67.

“I opened it really good,” Jeeno said. “Then I just tell myself just be patient and just had really good calculations on the irons and yardages. It’s kind of tough.

“I holed the putt really well on six, seven, and eight to be able to make the run.”

Ko made an eagle, two bogeys and five birdies, going four-under on the par-fives.

“I feel like I played quite smart, which is an extra bonus around a golf course like this,” Ko said.

Matthews made five birdies and an eagle on the front nine to lead briefly at seven-under 29 but began the back nine with a bogey and closed with a double bogey.

“Pretty much everything was going well,” she said of her start. “Hit a lot of good shots, had a lot of perfect numbers, and was making a lot of putts.”