DAYTONA BEACH – A fast start for Gabby Lemieux (Shoshone-Paiute Tribes) helped propel her onto the leaderboard in the first round of the Symetra Tour Championship on Thursday in Daytona Beach.

Lemieux shot a 7-under-par 65 at the LPGA International’s Jones Course. She is in a tie for third place heading into Friday’s second round, four shots behind leader Micheala Finn.

Through 15 holes, Lemieux was 9-under before she bogeyed two of her final three holes.

Lemieux started her round on the back nine and birdied four of her first five holes. She made the turn bogey-free at 5-under and promptly made birdies at Nos. 1, 3, 5 and 6 before suffering bogeys on Nos. 7 and 8.

She’s had two top 10 finishes in her Symetra Tour career and both came this season, including a tie for third at the Circling Raven Championship in August when she finished at 14-under par.

The Symetra Tour is the official qualifying tour for the LPGA.

Lemieux, 25, grew up in Idaho and played college golf at Texas Tech University. She has been on the Symetra Tour since 2018 and has steadily climbed each year in money rankings, going from 207th in her rookie season to 135th in 2019 to 117^th last year. She entered this week 48^th on this year’s money list with $25,480 in earnings. The top 10 on the money list earn LPGA membership for 2022. Nos. 11-35 earn spots in the LPGA qualifying series, which is a two-week tournament to determine LPGA and Symetra Tour playing status for next season.