Sweden's Elin Ohlsson fired a four-under-par 67 to take a one stroke lead after the first round of the Finnair Masters at Helsinki Golf Club in Finland. The 27-year-old from the town of Eksjo led by one over US player Kris Lindstrom and French women Virginie Lagoutte and Gwladys Nocera.
Australia's Carlie Butler, Finland's Riikka Hakkarainen and France's Virginie Auffret were two shots off the pace on two-under 69, while a further seven players were a shot further back on one-under 70, including England's Laura Davies, who won last week in Norway, and the defending champion Lisa Holm Sorensen of Denmark.
Ohlsson, a graduate of the University of Missouri in Columbia , is hoping for a top ten finish this week, which would be her best as a Ladies European Tour professional.
She is currently ranked 121 st on the New Star Money List and with just five events on the 2006 schedule remaining, she needs a high finish to secure her playing rights for the 2007 season.
The Swede had her best result of the year at last week's SAS Masters in Norway where she finished in a tie for 34 th , but is hoping to edge closer to securing her card by bettering that performance this week in Finland .
Ohlsson has made the cut in three of her last eight tournaments and admitted that seeing her name on the leader board was a new experience.
“This is new for me but it's definitely something I'm enjoying,” she said. “My best finish was 19 th two years ago in Holland and since then I've had difficulty in putting several rounds together.
“I want to beat my position from last week and I'm hoping to do that by making more birdies and cutting out the risks.”
Nocera, a three time winner this season, is aiming for her fourth victory and hopes to close the gap on Davies, the current leader of the New Star Money List.
The French woman has posted ten top tens in her last 14 starts on the LET and trails Davies by 35,000 euros in the rankings after finishing in a tie for 11 th last week in Norway.
“Last week was a bad week for me but I took it as a learning experience. My swing is good and I'm hitting the ball well but sometimes I just get a little bit mad,” she said.
On her goal to win New Star Money List, she added: “It's very important to me. Its keeping me motivated throughout the season. To be playing against Laura is pretty nice. She is a legend for me and now I have the opportunity to beat her.”
Lagoutte, the 2005 KLM Ladies Open Champion who finished second last week in Norway , crept quietly up the leader board to join Nocera and US player Kris Lindstrom.
Lindstrom, who spent five years playing on the US LPGA Tour before joining the LET at the end of 2004, said: “I hit the ball really well today so I can't complain. The conditions were excellent. I played here last year and it was pretty soggy. Today I hit 17 greens and I missed so many eight footers for birdie it was not funny. My score should have been much better.”
Lindstrom was born in the US to Nordic grandparents and is one quarter Norwegian and three quarters Swedish. She denied that the Finnish course reminded her of home, citing that Southern Sweden was more similar to her home territory of Southern Minnesota .
Lindstrom made news earlier this year when she was the only female to play in the Minnesota State Open, in the week before the Women's British Open, in July. She qualified but missed the cut by four strokes in the actual tournament on a course that was playing at 7100 yards.
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