Faultless Kung breaks record on links debut

Given that yesterday was her 21st birthday, Candie Kung was in need of some local information. She asked: "Are there are fun places around here?" A karaoke night at a pub in Girvan did not appeal to the Taiwanese player who had just found the perfect way to celebrate her landmark. Kung's 65, seven under par, was her lowest score in her rookie season as a professional. It was also a women's record for the Ailsa course here and gave her the first round lead in the Weetabix Women's British Open.

The tournament has borrowed a few things from the Open Championship in order to raise its status – like moving to links from inland courses and, for the first time here, visiting Scotland – so why not the old tradition of an unknown leading after the first day? Her family moved from Taiwan to California when she was 13, at which point she took up golf for the want of anything else to do.

A teenage pastime became a serious pursuit but as a professional she admits still to being too negative on the course. "I'll stand over a short putt and think I'm not going to hole it," she said. "I am learning to be more positive." Kung disobeyed her inner self to the extent that she was a stroke in front of the two-time champion Karrie Webb, with the defending champion Se Ri Pak a further shot back. Alongside the Korean on five under were Rachel Teske, of Australia, Germany's Elisabeth Esterl and the American Tina Barrett.

Esterl, whose outfit incorporated most of the colours of the rainbow and a few others beside, was much the brightest thing on show on a cool, overcast day on the Ayrshire coast. Since there was hardly any wind, however, the course was as benign as it could be, although the world No 1 Annika Sorenstam had a 73.

Kung, who did not drop a shot, birdied the first two holes and four of the last five. This was her first true experience of links golf. Asked if she had played links golf before, she cited the World Amateur on the Faldo course at the Berlin Sporting Club. The course has been described as possessing "links-like qualities" but her answer had the locals spluttering with indignation.

Mhairi McKay, a Turnberry member, used her local knowledge of the greens to birdie the last three holes for a 68. "That's the most focused I've ever been playing here," she said. "It felt like a major but I wasn't as nervous as I anticipated I'd be, knowing all the expectations on me. Even with it as benign as it was, you still had to put the ball in the right places."

Laura Davies did not do so at the 17th, where she had a quadruple-bogey nine in her 74. She carved her drive to the right and took two hacks to get out of the rough. From a fairway bunker, she could only splash out. "Then I hit the really bad shot of the hole," she said. It was a pulled sand-iron into a greenside bunker. "That turned an eight into a nine and left me no chance of a seven."