Unheralded Felibert leads at Arkansas golf

Venezuela rookie Veronica Felibert fired a career-best six-under 65 to seize a one-shot lead after the opening round of the LPGA Tour's NW Arkansas Championship. Felibert got into the tournament as a second alternate after she missed the cut in her three previous events. This is just her fifth official start on the Tour. "I think I was hitting the ball pretty good," said Felibert. "I remember just missing one green, just chipping once and just hitting fairways and greens. "I've been working really hard on my putter. I just switched a week ago, so this will be my second week with the putter. I don't know, I'm feeling pretty confident and I would say that was what made the difference." She had seven birdies and needed only 27 putts Friday at the Pinnacle Country Club course. Her previous best round was a second round 71 at the Mobile Bay Classic two months ago. Reigning LPGA Championship winner Feng Shanshan of China was in second, one shot back of Felibert. Feng won the LPGA Championship for her first major victory less than a month ago. Feng shot a five-under 66 and is alone in second place. "I was still thinking I'm kind of a good player but maybe I'm still not good enough to win," said Feng. "But then that win, it gave me a lot of confidence that now I believe in myself. I'm good enough to win more than one tournament." South Korea's Park In-bee shot a four-under 67 and is tied for third place with Karine Icher and MJ Hur. Park lost in a playoff last week at the Manulife Classic. World number one Yani Tseng of Taiwan continued to struggle in round one. The two-time defending champ is tied for 76th after shooting a two-over 73