SOUTHAMPTON, N.Y. — Inbee Park is on a roll.
Michelle Wie is not.
Park, the world's No. 1 who has won the first two major championships of the season on the LPGA tour, took the lead Thursday midway through first round of the U.S. Women's Open at Sebonack Golf Club. In a marquee pairing of the top three players in the world, Park shot 5-under-par 67, a round that included nine 3s on her scorecard, while world No. 2 Stacy Lewis shot 71 and No. 3 Suzann Pettersen came home with a 76.
LEADERBOARD: U.S. Women's Open
Park led Caroline Hedwall by one shot as the morning wave of players completed play under sunshine and amidst little wind. Five players were at 70, including Natalie Gulbis.
DOMINATING: Park enters on a red-hot-run
With the U.S. Golf Association expecting foul weather to arrive on the east end of Long Island, pin placements were on the generous side and half of the tees were moved up. But the day broke clear and the skies stayed that way into the afternoon, allowing players to take advantage of the benign course setup.
"Instead of hitting like 5-irons, we were hitting 9-irons, and that was making the course much easier," Park said. "I was actually able to go for some pins and give myself a lot of opportunities. I made a lot of putts and didn't leave much out there. … I do have a lot of confidence in myself at the moment. I mean, the way I'm playing, the way things have been going, the way I've been getting the luck, I think I am in the zone.
"I've been playing my best in my career at the moment."
Park, as is her norm, showed little to no emotion throughout the round.
"I get my happy moments and I get my angry moments," said Park, who has won seven times and finished second six times in her last 27 starts. "But it's just a shot in golf, and you sometimes hit a good shot. You sometimes hit a bad shot. I don't think it's a big deal. You're excited inside, but you can't be too excited because you've got to play the next shot.
"So I'm just trying to stay as calm as possible when I'm on the golf course.
" … I think I'm in the best position I could be in."
Wie, meanwhile, began with a quadruple-bogey 8 on her first hole, the par-4 10th, made five other bogeys and a double-bogey and, despite three birdies in her final four holes, shot 80.
"I caught the weeds, topped it, the heather of the fescue, ran from fescue to fescue, and lost the ball. I went back to the fescue, chipped out. Almost made my putt for 7," Wie said about her adventure at No. 10. "And everything that could have gone wrong went wrong today, but I'm proud of myself for making (three) birdies in the last (four) holes.
"Hopefully I can get a couple more birdies (Friday). I hit a couple good shots after (No. 10), just didn't really work out, and it's just, it's tough on this golf course once you get started on the wrong foot. But hopefully the last three birdies will owe give me some momentum for (Friday)."
GALLERY: THURSDAY AT THE U.S. WOMEN'S OPEN
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