DUBAI, Dec 14 – Lotta Wahlin, who survived a skin cancer scare two years ago, fired a brilliant round of six-under to take the clubhouse lead in the Omega Dubai Ladies Masters that got under way at the Emirates Golf Club on Wednesday.

The Swede mixed seven birdies with a lone bogey in her superb round, taking one shot lead over Becky Brewerton of Wales. Minea Blomqvist of Finland was placed third on a 68 at the end of the opening session of the day’s play.

South Africa’s Lee-Anne Pace headed the chasing pack which included five players, on a 69. 

Wahlin, who returned to the European Tour full time this year after she was diagnosed with skin cancer in 2009, yet to post a top 10 finish this season..

With her father Matts on the bag, Wahlin started at the 10th and picked up shots at the 12th and 13th, before dropping a stroke on the par-four 16th. She then reeled off birdies at the second, fourth, sixth, seventh and ninth holes.

Wahlin said: “I'm so happy.  I finally had a good round, finally able to make all the putts.  I'm just so happy.”

This is Wahlin’s first full year back on the tour after a cancer scare. She won two titles in Turkey and Wales in 2008 but at the Omega Dubai Ladies Masters two years ago, she received a telephone call from her doctor to inform her that a mole on her collar bone was actually skin cancer.

She hardly played on the LET in 2010, sticking to the Swedish Tour in cooler climes, but returned this year, making seven cuts from 14 tournaments played with a season-best tie for 13th at the Sanya Ladies Open.

She revealed that she felt like a rookie on tour this year with so many new players having emerged in a short space of time.

“There were so many players, and the Swedish tour is a very good tour, but it's still a big difference to here, so it's been taking a while to get used to it,” she said, adding that Dubai would be a great place to make a come-back and earn her first top ten of the year.

“Because three years ago I couldn't play because my knee was like so swollen, so I couldn't play.  It was hurting a lot.  And the next year I got skin cancer, and last year I wasn't here.  So it would mean a lot, yeah, to finish well here.”

Becky Brewerton of Wales was a stroke back on five under par after carding six birdies and one bogey.

The Welsh 29-year-old said that she had few expectations after suffering from a bout of gastroenteritis in India last week and spent Monday in bed.

“I managed to turn things around a bit from last week.  It was just completely different.  It's really hard to say sometimes what makes it change, but for some reason I played well, and having been struggling last week it was actually a bit of a surprise to me as well,” she said.

Brewerton is ranked 13th on the LET’s Henderson Money List in this, her eighth season on tour and she has posted six top 10 finishes from 23 starts on the LET. Although she won the Tenerife Ladies Matchplay this year, it was a non-official event and she would love to collect a third official career title.  

“I think it was just a different attitude.  Last week I think I probably over prepared, practiced too much, got a bit tired and then actually got sick at the end of the week, whereas actually this week I did nothing on Monday because I was in bed all day with not feeling too well at all.  So it actually made me relax probably a bit more and just go out and play and trust my game and probably not care as much, which sounds strange, but it's possible to care too much sometimes,” she said.