Brooke Ferrell, a junior from Edgerton, is alone in first place after firing a season-best 7-under-par 65 in the first round at the Big Ten Conference Championship on Friday in Newburgh, Indiana.
Ferrell, who leads the team in scoring average (73.61), holds a two-shot lead over Rutgers' Emily Mills and a four-shot lead over seven others.
Her output helped the Badgers get off to a solid start. UW's 1-over 289 is good for eighth place, but the Badgers are just six shots behind first-place Purdue in a bunched-up field.
The Boilermakers hold a one-shot lead over Northwestern and a two-shot lead over Illinois and Michigan.