Casandra Alexander started with a bogey on Thursday, but she made six birdies without dropping a shot after that in the first round of the Ladies European Tour’s Aramco China Championship on the World Cup Course at Mission Hills, Shenshen.

She ended the day on five-under-par 68 in a share of eighth place, three strokes off a three-way share of the lead after her third win of the season last week which wrapped up the Order of Merit title for her.

Three players shared the lead after the first round: English duo Annabell Fuller and Charlotte Heath were joined at the top of the leaderboard by China’s Liqi Zeng after they all fired rounds of eight-under-par 65.

Fuller was bogey-free, rolling in birdies on the first, second, fourth, ninth, 11th, 13th, 16th and 18th holes. Heath, who won the 2026 La Sella Open, had nine birdies on her scorecard and one bogey. China’s Zeng also had a flawless first day making birdies on holes one, five, six, eight, 10, 11, 14 and 18 in front of a home crowd.

Chinese amateur Yujie Liu was in solo fourth place on seven-under-par after an opening round of seven-under 66. 16-year-old Liu dropped a shot on the fifth hole, but sits just one shot off the lead on seven-under-par. “My front nine was on fire. Every approach shot and every single shot was perfect. I had an incredible round, and I loved the other players in my group. Cass [Alexander] is a wonderful player, and I’m super honoured to get the opportunity to play with her today. Overall, it was super fun,” said the amateur.

Three players were in a tie for fifth place with Sweden’s Moa Folke, England’s Mimi Rhodes and Thailand’s Pimnipa Panthong all on six-under-par.

Alexander shared eighth with Spain’s Luna Sobron Galmes and defending champion Ruixin Liu.