ARIMURA FROM JAPAN SSETS PACE IN HSBC WOMEN'S CHAMPIONS

LEWINE MAIR REPORTS
Chie Arimura , the 24-year-old Japanese Tour player who is at the top of the leaderboard at the end of the first day of the HSBC Women's Champions at Tanah Merah, Singapore, is being chased by all the usual suspects.
Na Yeon Choi returned a 69 to Arimura's 68 to be lying in second place, while Karen Stupples, Karrie Webb, Sun Young Yoo and Yani Tseng are lurking in third place with two-under-par 70s.
Tseng, who has won four tournaments in a row so far this year, was shaping to share Choi's second slot until she came to the 17th where, as had happened at the 11th, she had three putts.
"It was a roller-coaster of a round," said the World No. 1 afterwards. "I made six birdies but it was maddening to drop four shots, especially with those three-putt greens. I just couldn't gauge the speed."
Not that she allowed herself to get cross. "I just walked from those greens telling myself that I'd tried my best. You can't do any more than that."

Though Tseng is fielding countless questions about the mounting pressure attached to her continuing success, she continues to protest that she is oblivious to it.
"I'm enjoying this, right here, right now," she said.
"What's more," she continued, "if I have fun out there, the people watching will have fun, which is what I want and what the tour wants."
There was plenty of wind swirling round the course and Yani, for one, was revelling in the relatively tough conditions. "I like the wind because I know I can control the ball," came her explanation.
One way and another, it was a sentence which will prompt more than a few Scots to put their money on the Taiwanese player to make a successful defence of her Ricoh Women's British Open title when this year's event is played at Carnoustie.
That Arimura, a player from the Japanese circuit, should have finished the day ahead of the might of the LPGA Tour did not begin to surprise either Tseng or Choi. As both pointed out, the HSBC Women's Championship is precisely what the title says it is - an event full of champions.
"Everyone here is a great player," said Choi, who had enjoyed one of those afternoons when everything seemed to go according to plan.
Stupples had a day reminiscent of her closing round when she won the British Open at Sunningdale. On that occasion, she did something which not even Tiger Woods has ever matched in setting off on her final round with an eagle and an albatross.
Today, the English player had a couple of eagles on her card. Having started at the tenth, she made the first of them at the 512 yards 13th where, after following a solid drive with a three-wood hit through the back of the green, she chipped into the hole for her 3. 
The repeat came at the end as she hit a drive and a five-iron to 30 feet at the par-5 497 yards ninth before slotting the putt for a 3 to enthusiastic applause.
Having had something of an off-season in 2009 when she had her appendix out and her small son, Logan, broke his arm, Stupples believes that she is well and truly on the way back - and on line to make this year's Solheim Cup side.
FIRST-ROUND SCOREBOARD
Par 72
ARIMURA, Chie 68
2 CHOI, Na Yeon  69
T3 TSENG, Yani  70
T3 WEBB, Karrie  70
T3 YOO, Sun Young  70
T3 STUPPLES, Karen  70
T7 HUR, M J 71
T7 LEE, Meena  71
T7 SHIN, Jiyai 71
T7 GULBIS, Natalie  71
T7 FENG, Shanshan  71
T7 HAN, Hee-Won  71
T13 LEWIS, Stacy 72
T13 MIYAZATO, Mika 72
T13 HURST, Vicky  72
T13 KIM, I K 72
T13 JI, Eun-Hee 72
T13 WARD, Wendy 72
T13 WRIGHT, Lindsey 72
T13 SEO, Hee Kyung 72
T21 YANG, Amy 73
T21 WIE, Michelle 73
T21 PETTERSEN, Suzann 73
T21 UEDA, Momoko 73
T21 PRESSEL, Morgan 73
T21 STANFORD, Angela  73
T21 HUNG, Amy  73
T21 MATTHEW, Catriona 73
T21 KORDA, Jessica 73
T21 NOCERA, Gwladys 73
T31 AHN, Shi Hyun  74
T31 MIYAZATO, Ai 74
T31 KERR, Cristie 74
T31 KUNG, Candie 74
T31 HULL, Katherine 74
T31 LEE, Seon Hwa 74
T31 NORDQVIST, Anna 74
T31 PARK, Inbee 74
T31 FRANCELLA, Meaghan 74
T31 GUSTAFSON, Sophie  74
T31 KANG, Haeji 74
T42 PARK, Hee Young 75
T42 RECARI, Beatriz 75
T42 BLUMENHERST, Amanda 75
T42 HJORTH, Maria 75
T42 LINCICOME, Brittany  75
T47 CREAMER, Paula 76 
T47 PRAMMANASUDH, Stacy 76
T47 INKSTER, Juli 76
T47 MCPHERSON, Kristy  76
T47 MUNOZ, Azahara 76
T47 KANG, Jimin 76
T47 KIM, Christina  76
T47 PAK, Se Ri 76
T47 CASTRALE, Nicole 76
T47 HURST, Pat 76
T57 LANG, Brittany 77
T57 BAE, Kyeong 77
T57 ICHER, Karine 77
60 KIM, Song-Hee 79
61 SHARP, Alena 80
62 MIN, Na On 81
63 GOH, Christabel 82