Bader takes lead at LPGA LOTTE Championship

Honolulu, Hawaii – With numerous highly ranked and top players in the field, Beth Bader came up with the best score Wednesday during the first round of the LPGA LOTTE Championship.

Bader fired a four-under 68 to take an unlikely lead at the first-year event, ahead of world No. 1 Yani Tseng and three others.

Now in her 12th season on the LPGA Tour, Bader has never won a title and hasn't had many finishes recently. In the 2010 and '11 seasons, she missed the cut in 18 of 23 events, and her best finish was a tie for 22nd.

But Bader sits at the head of a field that includes the top five players in the world, including Tseng, who has won three times this season. Tseng carded a three-under 69 and shares second with world No. 7 Jiyai Shin, Brittany Lang and Angela Stanford, who won the HSBC Women's Champions in February.

Second-ranked Suzann Pettersen and Sun Young Yoo, who earned a playoff victory at the Kraft Nabisco Championship three weeks ago, headline a group tied for sixth at two-under.

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