After starting with four birdies on the back nine of Dundonald Links and taking her lone bogey at the par-5 3rd hole, Choi eagled the par-5 5th and rolled in three straight birdies at Nos.7-9.

It was enough to give her an edge over France's Celine Boutier, New Zealand's Lydia Ko and Lilia Vu, who fired rounds of seven-under 65.

"That hole I made bogey, I didn't expect that there was a hazard because I just practised once this week," Choi said. "I was pretty upset when I missed and I really try to be calm on next hole.

"Luckily, I made eagle with long putt and that was the momentum for today."

Hye-Jin Choi leads after round one at Dundonald Links where she is chasing a maiden LPGA Tour win. PHOTO: Stuart Franklin/Getty Images.

Choi, 22, is ranked No.24 in the world and has won 11 times on the LPGA of Korea Tour but has yet to break through with the LPGA.

She has performed well at the majors, including a third-place finish at the U.S. Women's Open and a T5 at the KPMG Women's PGA Championship.

"Today I had really good shots overall," Choi said. "But more than my shots, my putter was very good so I had a lot of chances.

"I just made birdies when I got the chance and I played well with a good attitude on the rest of my holes."

Boutier and Ko each shot bogey-free rounds with seven birdies apiece, while Vu made eight birdies against just one bogey.

As LPGA players prepare for next week's AIG Women's Open, the fifth and final major of the season, Ko is among those with major talent looking to get back on the podium. Ko won two majors, but none since the 2016 ANA Inspiration.

Ko also tied for second at last year's Scottish Open.

"I played really solid. I gave myself good looks," Ko said of her 65. "And I think even when I made mistakes I was like pretty calm about things. And the weather was a lot nicer than I thought it was going to be."

England's Georgia Hall and South Korea's Narin An are tied for fifth at six-under 66.

Australian star Minjee Lee highlighted a group of seven players tied at five-under 67.

The 26-year-old from Western Australia has won eight-times on the LPGA Tour and will be looking for another solid performance before next week's Women's Open, where she will be hoping to add to her two majors.

Compatriots Steph Kyriacou and 2019 US KPMG Women's PGA Championship winner Hannah Green are at one-under and even par respectively.

Defending champion Ryann O'Toole opened with a four-under 68. She was tied for 14th with Japan's Nasa Hataoka, Thailand's Jasmine Suwannapura and England's Bronte Law.