Stephanie Meadow trails Minjee Lee by five shots at Blue Bay LPGA

Stephanie Meadow carded two-under-par 70 in her opening round at the Blue Bay LPGA event in Hainan Island in China as Minjee Lee grabbed the early lead.

Meadow racked up six birdies and two bogeys, with a double-bogey on the par-five third hole a lowlight in an otherwise encouraging round.

The Jordanstown woman shares 20th place with 10 other players.

Lee fired a seven-under 65 to seize a one-shot advantage in a bogey-free round which featured four birdies on the back nine and three on the front.

The Australian, who won the tournament in 2016, said her strategy paid off with the tricky greens. She hit 17 of 18 greens and finished with 28 putts.

"I hit a lot of good lag putts and just tried to be on the right parts of the green," she said. "They're so small and the hills are so severe that I think sometimes you just can't help it. You just have to accept it and then just accept the putt that you have."

Sarah Schmelzel carded the day's only other bogey-free round and is tied for second at six under with China's Ruixin Liu and Miranda Wang.

Eleven players are within three shots of the leader heading into Friday. Caroline Inglis, Luci Li and South Korea's Hye-Jin Choi are tied for fifth after opening rounds of 67.

Defending champion Gaby Lopez of Mexico is tied for 31st place after posting a 71, the same score carded by 14-year-old amateur Yijia Ren of China.