BAGUIO City — Playing under severe weather conditions and the challenging layout, Tiffany Lee shot a three-under 69 on Tuesday to come out on top after the first round of the ICTSI Pinewoods Challenge.

As thick fog blanketed the Pinewoods Golf and Country Club, halting play and adding an eerie unpredictability to an already tough course, Lee remained cool, calm and collected to give her a two-stroke lead over Chanelle Avaricio in the P1 million tournament.

“It’s a very tough course, honestly. You need a lot of accuracy and a good short game,” said Lee, summing up a day where precision mattered as much as patience — especially with fog delays breaking rhythm and testing focus throughout the field.

For Lee, the round was anything but linear. She opened with a roller-coaster front nine, mixing four birdies with two bogeys and a double bogey, made even more difficult by intermittent stoppages as fog swept across the course.

Just when momentum seemed uncertain, she reignited her round with a decisive four-birdie burst starting on No. 14.

That late surge transformed what had been a crowded leaderboard into a clearer statement of intent.

“I was focusing on hitting more confidently, especially on narrow fairways and small openings into the greens,” she said. “I tried to commit fully to my shots so I could execute properly.”

Even so, a closing bogey prevented her from stretching the lead further — but not from walking off with the outright advantage.

“The greens are hard and fast, very difficult to control,” added Lee. “I just had to work through it the best I could.”

Behind her, Avaricio showed flashes of command but could not sustain it. She opened with an eagle-aided 32 and briefly threatened to run away with the round, only to stumble on the back nine with three bogeys against a birdie for a 71.

“My tee shots were pretty good, but I struggled around the greens and my putting was a little off,” said Avaricio, who admitted the course setup and slick surfaces punished small errors. “I need to do better on my putting.”