Jessica Korda, Katie Burnett share Ladies Masters lead

Jessica Korda

Korda, who won the 2012 Australian Open, made the perfect start to the tournament at Royal Pines on the Gold Coast, carding a five-under-par round of 68.

The 20-year-old looked set to have sole ownership of the lead until Burnett blitzed the second half of her round with five birdies to snatch a share of the lead.

"Yeah, I actually hit my driver quite well today and I only missed one really really bad shot, but I got away with it and ended up making birdie," Korda said

"But I'm just taking every shot as it is, if I hit it upward to the right, I hit it up to the right. I need to figure out why I did that and try and put that to the next shot. I'm learning how to figure out this swing that I have, but I like what's going on right now."

The duo are one shot clear of American Cheyenne Woods, Frenchwoman Valentine Derrey, Canadian Lorie Kane and South African duo Lee-anne Pace Stacy Lee Bregman.

Australians Kristie Smith, Sarah Kemp, Rebecca Artis and amateur Minjee Lee are all in the mix at three-under, alongside the Netherlands Dewi-Claire Schreefel , Denmark's Line Vedel and China's Yu Yang Zhang in a share of eighth.

Defending champion Karrie Webb will need to improve dramatically to make the cut after she could manage a one-over 74 to be in a tie for 59th place.

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