IRELAND’S REBECCA Codd fired an opening five-under-par 67 on The Vintage Course at Mission Hills Haikou yesterday to sit one shot behind the first round leaders at the inaugural World Ladies Championship in Hainan, southern China.

The 30-year-old Carlow golfer had six birdies and just one dropped shot to share second place just behind Italian Diana Luna and China’s Shanshan Feng.

Codd, the sole Irish player in the tournament, made a stuttering start with a bogey on the par four second but bounced straight back with a pair of birdies. Her solid iron play resulted in four more birdies on the inward nine.

“I was really happy with it because I got a bit unlucky on my second hole. I got a muddy ball from the semi-rough on the left and I struck it good and it just went sideways into the hazard so I made bogey there and that was the only bad hole of the day, so I was really happy with how I played,” Codd said.

The 2002 Irish Amateur champion is hoping to improve on her career best finish as a professional, which was a tie for third at the 2006 Tenerife Ladies Open.

“If I can strike the ball like I did today for the weekend I would be really happy but you’ve just got to take each day as it comes. You just don’t know with golf, so you’ve just got to keep plugging away and make some putts,” she said.

She enjoys Asia, having spent a year competing on the Japanese LPGA Tour in 2004: “I guess I’m used to the Asian lifestyle and the food doesn’t bother me as much as it does probably a lot of the other girls. I like coming to Asia.”