Australian golfer Alison Whitaker shares the lead with defending champion Caroline Hedwall of Sweden after the opening round of the Ladies European Tour event in Austria.

Whitaker and Hedwall carded five under par 67s on a glorious opening day at Golfclub Fohrenwaldh to be one clear of Mikaela Parmlid, Stacey Keating and Klara Spilkova.

Whitaker, in her first season on the LET, had seven birdies and two bogeys for her career-best round on the circuit.

“It was good fun out there and it was nice to see some putts going in and some birdies being made. I hit the ball better today. I hit it really straight and felt like I could be aggressive at pins,” said the 26-year-old from Melbourne, who is leading an LET event for the first time.

She began with five birdies on the front nine and bogeyed the 10th. After picking up shots at the 12th and 15th, where she gained a one stroke advantage, she closed with a bogey on the 17th.

Hedwall is playing in her first event since the US Open after two months out with a hip injury.

The Solheim Cup player won this event by four shots a year ago but only started hitting full shots three weeks ago after advice from doctors.

“Today I got a lot out of it and I’m very happy with five under. Today it felt like I had been playing all summer,” she said.

Three time event champion Laura Davies opened with a 70 to sit alongside the 2009 winner Linda Wessberg while the current European Order of Merit leader Carly Booth is one under, having dropped three shots in her last three holes.

The 54-hole strokeplay event continues on Saturday ahead of a cut to the leading 50 professionals and those tied.