It was a quiet opening day of the AIG Women’s Open for the 2022 champion Ashleigh Buhai as she carded a one-over-par 73 at Royal Porthcawl in Porthcawl, Wales.

Buhai made a birdie early on in her round on the second hole, but she followed it with a double-bogey on the third. She made birdies on eight, 10 and 18, but a run of three consecutive bogeys from the 14th to the 16th put her in a share of 71st.

Japan’s Eri Okayama and Rio Takeda shared the lead in the opening round, after both carding impressive five-under-par 67s. Okayama overcame a shaky start, dropping a shot on the opening hole, by rebounding with five birdies on the front nine and adding another at the 17th. Takeda carded seven birdies in a strong opening round. A double-bogey on the ninth hole didn’t worry the recent LPGA winner.

Japan’s Miyu Yamashita, who was in the same group as Takeda, sat one shot back in solo third place, after firing a round of four-under-par. It wass a tight leaderboard with a total of 10 players in a tie for fourth place, all firing opening rounds of three-under-par.

There were 16 players on two-under, and 21 on one-under. One stroke ahead of Buhai, who was in a share of 74th, there were 23 players on level-par.

Amongst those on one-over with Buhai was Casandra Alexander, while Paula Reto opened with a four-over-par 76.