Korean golfer produces brilliant opening round to take lead at WPGA Pro-Am

Cho produced a blistering opening round 64 at Wagga Country Club on Thursday to sit at nine under par and take the overnight lead.

Melbourne professional Sheradyn Johnson shot the best score of the morning and sat on top of the leaderboard for most of the day after a round of seven under par.

But Cho finished with four birdies from her last six holes to storm into the lead.

Elmay Viking, runner up in the NSW Open Regional Qualifier at Wagga last year, holds a share of third place with Wollongong's Danni Vasquez-Boyd at six under par.

New Zealand's Munchin Keh found herself at three over par early but finished with eight birdies for a round of 68.

Defending champion Jordan O'Brien is at two under par, while former British Masters winner Lydia Hall finished at one over.

Vasquez-Boyd was thrilled to be in contention at Wagga after a tough run recently.

"I was stoked," Vasquez-Boyd said of her opening round 67.

"Honestly, it's been a while since I played this well. I'm not going to lie, it's been a tough ride but I'm glad, here, I felt comfortable, I love Wagga so I'm happy that I could do it here."

Ironically, it was eight years to the day since Vasquez-Boyd won the Wagga Junior Masters at Wagga Country Club.

She hopes that it might be meant to be.

"It's funny, eight years ago today I won the Junior Masters here. I had a memory pop up on Facebook," Vasquez-Boyd said with a laugh.

"I've had a few good scores here. I played the men's pro-am and had a really good score there, I think I finished top 10.

"But winning the Junior Masters here was pretty special.

"I wanted to give myself a chance here and I'm glad that I'm in that position where I can go out (Friday) and come close.

"I'm feeling pretty good for (Friday) so we'll see how that goes."

Vasquez-Boyd credited a heart-to-heart with her husband Darcy Boyd, also a professional golfer, for her turnaround in form.

"I sat down with my partner Darcy the other night and we really knuckled down on what I needed to do to improve because, honestly, it hasn't been my year this year. It's been terrible," she said.

"So I had a little cry to him and just having that support behind me.

"He's there 24-7 supporting me and it just felt like I was alone for some of it but having that reassurance from him really, really helped."

-9 Jeongmin Cho (Korea)

-7 Sheradyn Johnson (Australia)

-6 Elmay Viking (Cook Islands), Danni Vasquez-Boyd (Australia)

-5 Munchin Keh (New Zealand)

-4 Emma Ash (Australia), Breanna Gill (Australia), Tunrada Piddon (Thailand), Kristalle Blum (Australia), Rhianna Lewis (Australia)

-3 Wenyung Keh (New Zealand), Amy Chu (Australia), Grace Lennon (Australia), Karis Davidson (Australia)