Australian Katherine Hull fired a four-under par 68 to grab a one-stroke lead after the first round of the LPGA ADT Championship while Annika Sorenstam struggled in her US farewell.

Hull, who won the Canadian Women's Open in August and was second in South Korea earlier this month, fired six birdies against a pair of bogeys to seize a one-stroke lead over South Koreans In-Kyung Kim and Shin Ji-Yai.

"Overall I'm pretty happy," Hull said. "I didn't have really any expectations going out there, just tried to execute the game plan and have fun. I did that so it was a good day."

Swedish superstar Sorenstam, the former world number one who will retire after this year, opened with a two-over 74 to share 23rd place and was two strokes out of the top-16 showing she will need to avoid Friday's cut.

"I was a little nervous. I feel like I'm playing good," Sorenstam said. "I'm excited about the week. It's just nothing went my way today. It's just very frustrating that way."

Also well off the pace was world number one Lorena Ochoa. The Mexican fired a 75 and faces the drop zone rather than the weekend without a fightback.

The season-ending 1.55 million-dollar event at Trump International Golf Club matches the top 31 players from the 2008 campaign in a format with cuts to 16 for Saturday and eight for Sunday's battle for a one million-dollar top prize.

That means Sorenstam, who has three titles and 1.7 million dollars in prize money this season, will need to rally to avoid missing the weekend in her final LPGA tournament after a career that includes 72 titles and 10 major triumphs.

Sorenstam suffered four bogeys in six holes starting at the par-3 fifth and continuing at the par-3 seventh. She took another at the par-5 ninth and began the back nine with another before making her first birdies at 14 and 15.

Ochoa followed a birdie at the fourth with bogeys at the fifth and sixth, a double bogey at the par-3 seventh and a bogey at the eighth. She birdied the 10th, fell back with another double bogey at the par-5 12th, but added birdies at 14 and 16.

"I have nothing to complain (about)," Ochoa said. "I still have a chance. I'm not too far from the top 16 to make it to the next round. So I'm just going to be positive now and play good tomorrow."

Hull birdied the second and fifth holes and parred the rest of the front nine. She began the back nine with a bogey but answered with birdies at 11 and 13, then took a bogey at 14 but responded with birdies on the next two holes.

Shin, the British Open champion who won two weeks ago in Japan and will join the LPGA Tour next year, opened with a birdie, added two more at six and seven and answered bogeys at 13 and 16 with birdies on the next hole each time.

"My drive was good so I never missed the fairway," Shin said. "And then, I was good at playing, so very comfortable play. In the back nine I made bogeys. But today's pin locations were too hard. It's very tough."

Kim opened and closed with bogeys but had five birdies in between to share second, one stroke ahead of three other Koreans - Na Yeon Choi, Eun-Hee Ji and Ji Young Oh.

This event, which features 12 Koreans, is among three from this year's 34-tournament slate that is not on next year's schedule due to lack of a title sponsor after 2008.

AFP

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