It wasn’t the start Casandra Alexander had hoped for on Thursday as she carded a two-over-par 73 in the first round of the Amundi Evian Championship at Evian-les-Bains in France.

She started well enough with a birdie on the first hole, but she gave that back with a bogey on the seventh. She quickly got things back into red numbers with a birdie on the ninth, but she dropped three shots on the back nine, on the 12th, 13th and 18th.

The South African world number 33 finished the first day in a share of 87th, 10 strokes behind the lead which was held at eight-under by Aki Iwai of Japan. Iwai led by two from France’s Perrine Delacour, with Maja Stark, Charley Hull, Jin Hee Im, Mao Saigo and Haeran Ryo in a share of third on five-under-par.

It was a bogey-free opener for Iwai. The 24-year-old teed off in the morning, making her first birdie of the day on the fifth hole followed by birdies on seven and nine. Iwai, who has one LPGA Tour title to her name, made back to-back birdies on 11 and 12 before another pair on 15 and 16, and she finished with a birdie at the last.

Ashleigh Buhai battled her way to an opening four-over-par 75 for a share of 115th in the 132-player field.