Defending champion Karrie Webb eclipsed her own course record with a 9-under-par 63 today, grabbing a two-stroke lead after the opening round of the $750,000 Australian Ladies Masters.

Webb, a native of Queensland, opened with four straight birdies and strung together three more to start the back nine en route to a bogey-free round. She broke by one stroke the mark she set in the third round in 1997. Sweden's Pernilla Sterner equalled it one day later.

A.J. Eathorne, a 22-year-old Canadian rookie, is two shots back after a 7-under 65, while LPGA veteran Jane Geddes is alone in third place after a 66.

Michelle Estill, Karen Weiss, Janice Moodie of Scotland and Nicole Lowien of Australia are four shots off the pace. Alison Nicholas of Britain, coming off a victory at last week's Hawaiian Ladies Open, heads a group of nine at 4-under.

Webb wasted no time beginning her assault on the Royal Pines Resort course, making birdie putts of 10 and 12 feet on the first two holes, both par-4s. She two-putted from 45 feet for her third straight birdie, then rolled in a six-footer at the par-4 fourth.

A six-foot birdie at the 337-yard sixth hole interrupted a run of four pars that ended at the 10th, where she hit a wedge within 25 feet to set up her sixth birdie.

"I thought about what I would have to do to shoot 59," she said. "I would have had to have birdied the back nine."

The former LPGA Rookie of the Year made it two in a row with an eight-footer at No. 11 and tapped in a three-footer at the 496-yard 12th to get to 7-under.

Webb finished in style, knocking a sand wedge within five feet at the par-4 18th and making her ninth birdie.

"It was a really solid round," she said. "I only missed one green. It's hard to rank rounds. I had a 63 in Sunningdale and that was one of my best first rounds. This is totally different."

Webb, 24, won last year's event by five strokes for her first victory in her homeland since joining the LPGA Tour. Calling it "the happiest day" of her life, she avenged her loss to Gail Graham in 1997, when she squandered a four-shot lead in the final round.

Webb recorded her 10th career victory last month at the Office Depot after finishing second at the season-opening Inaugural. The par-72 Royal Pines Resort course measures 6,250 yards. First prize is $112,500.