WATERLOO, Ontario — Sandra Changkija birdied six of her final eight holes for a career-best 8-under 63 and a three-stroke lead Thursday during the suspended first round of the inaugural Manulife Financial LPGA Classic.

Play was suspended at 4:20 p.m. because of the threat of lightning in the area, and called off for the rest of the day at 6:30 p.m. Seventy-two players were unable to finish the round.

Changkija, making her eighth start in her rookie season, parred her first six holes after beginning play on No. 10, then birdied Nos. 16 and 18. With the wind picking up on the Grey Silo course, she birdied No. 2 and Nos. 4-8 for a front-nine 30.

“My ball striking [has] been good, you know, for most every tournament I’ve played in,” said Changkija, who has made only two cuts and earned $6,708 this season “I just missed a few fairways here and there. I’ve been keeping up with my ball striking and just needed to make some good strokes.”

China’s Shanshan Feng, coming off a major victory two weeks ago in the LPGA Championship, shot a 66.

“You know, I thought a lot before I started because I know that after you win a tournament, maybe sometimes you’ll be too like expecting yourself to do too well and then that would give yourself actually pressure,” Feng said. “But that was what I was trying to tell myself. I said, `Just keep patient and just focus on shot by shot and try your best.“’

Sweden’s Anna Nordqvist also was 5 under with five holes left.

Suzann Pettersen, Angela Stanford, Karin Sjodin and Lacey Agnew shot 67.

Pettersen tied for second last week in the PGA Championship.

“I actually got off to a pretty good start,” Pettersen said. “I just feel like I’ve played a lot of golf lately, I’m feeling I’m playing very good, I have a good feel for the greens. It got really windy after a couple holes. It’s tough, but it’s not that tough, but it’s tough enough when the wind gets up, that’s the only thing that’s going to protect this course. But I’m right there. It’s good.”

Michelle Wie, trying to break out of a season-long slump, opened with a 70, breaking par for only the second time in 19 rounds this year.

Second-ranked Stacy Lewis, a two-time winner this season, was 1 over with six holes left.

Conway native Kristy McPherson was tied for 24th after she was able to finish her first round. McPherson ended the day at 1-under. She started her round by shooting par on the first three holes. After a bogey on the par-4 fourth hole, McPherson strung together three straight birdies. She closed out her front nine with a bogey.

McPherson came out and opened the back nine with a birdie. After two pars, she bogeyed the par-4 13th and par-4 15th to fall to even par. She bounced back by claiming birdie on the 16th and closed her round out with two pars.

European Tour

Marcus Fraser of Australia and Fabrizio Zanotti of Paraguay are tied for the lead after the opening round of the BMW International Open.

Fraser and Zanotti each had an 8-under 64 at the Gut Larcenhof course outside Cologne on Thursday. Chris Wood, Danny Willett and Paul McGinley were next at 65.

Fraser birdied two of his opening three holes and five of his last six. It was his lowest score in 21 rounds at the prestigious German event.

John Daly rewarded one of the biggest galleries on the course with a 4-under 68

France’s Gregory Havret, South Africa’s Keith Horne, Sweden’s Pelle Edberg and India’s Shiv Kapur all shot 66s.