Wendy Ward

Defending champion Lexi Thompson fired a 9- under 63 on Thursday to grab a 2-shot lead after the opening round of the Navistar LPGA Classic.Thompson, who cruised to a 5-stroke win on The Senator Course last year, carded a career-low round that matched the tournament's 18-hole scoring record."My record was 65 here before, so I'm pretty excited about this golf course," said Thompson, who shot 65 as a 14-year-old in 2009. "But the whole day, I was just really consistent. I think I hit 17 greens and dropped a good amount of putts, but it gave me a lot of confidence."Hee Young Park and Lizette Salas, who were in the final two groups of the morning wave, both shot 7-under 65 and are tied for second.World No. 3 Stacy Lewis posted a 6-under 66 and was joined in fourth place by Karen Stupples, Mi Hyang Lee, Wendy Ward and Amanda Blumenherst.Thompson was on fire right from the start. She got going with a birdie on the first. She converted a birdie effort on the par-4 fourth and followed with bir...

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