Hannah Green started Wednesday’s first round of the LPGA Lotte Championship in tranquil conditions at Hoakalei Country Club.

Then the wind picked up and the course became a lot more difficult to play. Green wouldn’t want to have it any other way.

“I feel like the windier it gets and the harder it gets, I like that,” said the 25-year-old from Australian. “I feel like I like the challenge. I might not say that tomorrow if I have a bad score, but, you know, it makes you think.”

Green shot a 6-under-par 66 to take the lead by one stroke over a group of five golfers.

“It was quite hard to predict the wind the last few holes,” Green said. “It was getting pretty gusty. But, yeah, you’ve got to be pretty patient out there.”

Green, who started on the 10th hole, had three birdies and no bogeys on her front nine. She had a wild ride on the back with five birdies and two bogeys.

“I’ve been hitting the ball good,” said Green, who tied for eighth at last week’s Chevron Championship. “I just felt like with the putter I just needed to see a couple go in. So that’s kind of what led to my score today. Holed a couple longer ones, which is nice. Just made the hole feel a little bit bigger.”

Aditi Ashok, Alison Lee, Gemma Dryburgh, Hyo Joo Kim and Jodi Ewart Shadoff were tied for second at 67. Green, Ashok, Lee and Dryburgh all started their rounds at 8:06 a.m. or earlier, before the wind picked up.

It looked like Green, whose first LPGA Tour victory came in a major — the 2019 Women’s PGA Championship — was safe atop the leaderboard, but Kim and Ewart Shadoff made a late charge.

Ewart Shadoff, an 11-year tour veteran from England, had six birdies, including a long putt on the par-4 No. 6, and one bogey.

“I hit a really good drive and it was in a divot, and then I raked in like a 40-footer, so kind of deserved that one,” she said. “But no, like I was hitting it pretty close today, so just took advantage of a couple of like 10-footers.”

Ewart Shadoff started in the third-to-last group and wasn’t sure she’d be able to get her round in.

“Yeah, I was a little bit concerned standing on the ninth tee that we weren’t going to get done,” she said. “Yeah, the last, the tap-in two-footer was a little bit — had to refocus and make sure I was paying attention.”

Kim, who was bogey-free, got to 5-under through 14 holes, but parred out the rest of the way.

“I think I got a good score today because I didn’t make any serious mistakes, but the course itself is not that easy. I think I’ll have to keep concentrating on the course,” Kim said.

Allisen Corpuz, a Punahou graduate and only local player in the field, shot a 2-under-par 70 and was tied for 13th.

“Yeah, I mean, it was a really solid round,” Corpuz said. “Made a lot of birdies out there today, saw a lot of really good putts out there. Just hoping to keep the momentum going throughout the week.”

She finished strong by birdieing two of her final three holes.

“I’ve seen it before, which I think was definitely an advantage today, but it got gusty out there towards the end for sure,” Corpuz said.

She had a lot of support from the crowd during her round, which included five birdies and three bogeys.

“It’s so special. I mean, just knowing there is a lot of people out here rooting for me means a lot,” Corpuz said.

Defending champion Lydia Ko was tied for 11th at 69. She birdied Nos. 3, 17 and 18.

“Yeah, I played really solid,” said Ko, who won last year at Kapolei Golf Club. “You know, I felt like I kept it in play for most parts. The wind picked up quite a lot over my back nine, which is the front nine, so it made it a lot tougher out there.”

Brooke Henderson, who won the Lotte in 2018 and 2019 at Ko Olina Golf Club, shot a 2-over and is tied for 73rd.

Lee, who is tied for second, played bogey-free with five birdies.

“Par was a good score on a lot of the holes with this wind, but just tried to take advantage of the birdie opportunities when I had them,” she said.

Dryburgh was even on the front nine, then birdied 10, 13, 14, 16 and 18 as the wind started to pick up.

“When we made the turn it got pretty strong. Yeah, just used my Scottish knowledge, I guess,” she said.

Sarah Kemp, Haeji Lee, Gaby Lopez and Janie Jackson are tied for seventh at 68.

Jennifer Kupcho, who won the Chevron Championship for her first major title, finished at 2-over.