Minjee Lee birdied the final three holes for a 7-under 65 and a two-stroke lead Thursday in the Blue Bay LPGA, playing in perfect conditions two days after Typhoon Sarika hit the resort. Lee hit a long flop shot to a foot from a difficult angle on the par-5 18th on Jian Lake's Blue Bay course, back in top shape after a large cleanup effort. The 20-year-old Australian was delayed traveling from the event that ended Sunday in South Korea and finally got to the resort Wednesday, limiting her to nine holes of practice. "Maybe it's better," Lee said. "I think it was pretty similar for a lot of the girls. I just took it as it is." American Jessica Korda and Germany's Sandra Gal shot 67 on the long course with large rolling, tiered greens with small effective landing areas. Lee hit to 6 inches to set up a birdie on the par-5 14th. She has two LPGA Tour victories, winning last year in Kingsmill and in April in Hawaii. Gal holed out from 89 yards for eagle on the par-4 second hole. She settled for par on 18 when her chip from light rough just off the green, hit the downslope, ticked the flagstick and ended up 12 feet away. Korda birdied three of the final four holes. Spain's Carlota Ciganda was three strokes back at 68 along with South Korea's Chella Choi. Canada's Brooke Henderson birdied four of the last five to join Germany's Caroline Masson and American Austin Ernst at 69. The 19-year-old Henderson is playing for the fourth straight week in Asia and plans to make it six in a row with stops in Malaysia and Japan. South Korea's Kim Sei-young, the winner last year in the wind without shooting a round in the 60s, opened with a 71. Second-ranked Ariya Jutanugarn also shot 71. The Thai star leads the tour with five victories. Michelle Wie had a 72, playing alongside Gal and Choi Na-yeon. The slumping American got into the field on a sponsor exemption. Choi had two double bogeys in an 82. The South Korean player threw her ball in the water on 18 after missing a 12-foot eagle putt and tapping in for her lone birdie. Thomas grabs share of lead Justin Thomas enjoyed a welcome return to Kuala Lumpur Thursday when the American kicked off the defense of his CIMB Classic title by surging into a share of the lead at the $7 million co-sanctioned event. Thomas tallied nine birdies and a lone bogey in his first round this time to sign for an eight-under-par 64. Derek Fathauer, who was bogey-free for his round, and Keegan Bradley matched Thomas's total to move top of the leaderboard as the American trio opened a one-shot advantage over in-form Englishman Paul Casey in the second event on the 2017 PGA Tour. Anirban Lahiri sits alone in fifth place after bogeys on his last two holes prevented the Indian from grabbing a share of the lead, one clear of a quartet of players that includes Sergio Garcia and Brendan Steele, who won last week's Safeway Open. American Patrick Reed (68) and Spaniard Rafa Cabrera Bello (69), who faced each other at the recent Ryder Cup, made solid starts while Ian Poulter, vice captain of the defeated European team, continued he return from injury with a one-under-par 71.
