The 27-year-old golfer from Lodi, Calif., took the first-round lead in the 36-hole Salisbury Futures with a 4-under-par 67 at the Country Club of Salisbury. She had a one-stroke lead over Grace Park and Heather Bowie entering today’s scheduled second round.

The female course record of 66 was set by Diane Dickman in the final round of the 54-hole Salisbury Classic in 1987.

‘‘I didn’t even know what it was,’’ said Daniels. ‘‘To tell you the truth, I thought it was a par-72 all day. I just realized it was a par-71.’’

Daniels, a third-year Futures pro, missed one fairway and two greens while taking 30 putts. She had an up-and-down for par out of the only sand trap she was in on No. 18. Starting on the back nine, she played each side in 2-under-par for a 34 on the back and a 33 on the front.

Daniels started on No. 10 at 2:10 p.m., long after Park and Bowie had shot their 68s in the morning, but she didn’t know about their scores.

‘‘I had heard that there were a couple of good scores, but I didn’t look at the board. I try not to look,’’ she said. ‘‘Sometimes I sneak a peak, but I try not to. I figure it’s not going to help me to know what everybody else shot. I’ve just got to go out and play my own game.’’

As she neared the end of her round, she admitted, ‘‘I thought it might be close. I was hoping, anyway.’’

The No. 5 player on the Futures money list ($15,918), Daniels had missed the cut in last week’s Greater Lima Futures Open in Lima, Ohio.

‘‘This is one of my better rounds this year. I’ve had a couple of 69s and a lot right around par, but the past three tournaments or so, I’ve been struggling. So this is good. It gets my confidence back,’’ said Daniels.

She could easily have been 4 under par after four holes, just missing a birdie on No. 10, making birdie 3s on Nos. 11 and 12, then just missing another birdie on No. 13, where she started a streak of seven pars. She had back-to-back birdies on Nos. 2 and 3, then parred the final six holes.

‘‘I guess I’m happy with the 67, but I think it could have been two or three lower, if I could have just gotten a couple of putts to the hole. I’m not going to complain. I made some that I probably shouldn’t have made and I missed some that I probably should have made. I probably had about four more (birdie putts) that were makeable: one I left short, a couple that I didn’t play enough break, then a couple I hit really good putts I thought were really good, and they just broke a little bit more than I expected,’’ she said.

Daniels, who plays deliberately, was asked to describe herself as a golfer, and she said she was both methodical and competitive, then added, ‘‘I try to be patient. I don’t try to get ahead of myself, thinking about more shots to come. I try to stay one shot at a time,’’ said Daniels, who gave up softball for golf in high school when she was 16. Her best sports then were basketball and volleyball.

‘‘The strong point of my game is that I drive it pretty well (about 240 yards, consistently in the fairway). I think I do everything pretty much the same. ... I work on all aspects of my game a lot,’’ she said.

Daniels is going after her second tour victory of the season and her career, having won the Southwestern Bell Futures Classic in Texas in April.

When Daniels found out that she would be playing at 2:10 p.m. today in the final threesome with Park, the 1998 U.S. Women’s Amateur champion, and Bowie, she said, ‘‘Oh, cool, that’ll be fun.’’

Park, who got her first tour victory last week in Ohio by making an eagle on the final hole, said of yesterday’s 33-35–68 round, ‘‘It was a good score. I guess I can’t complain, but it was very dull. I hit a lot of fairways and a lot of greens, but my irons weren’t quite there. I did have more birdie opportunities than I made, but I didn’t have any great shots.’’

She made birdies on holes No. 2 and 9, then parred the back nine.

Park, from Phoenix, Ariz., was the NCAA individual champion for Arizona State last month before turning pro.

Bowie, the tour leader through last week with 10 sub-par rounds out of 27 rounds, put together nines of 32 and 36 for her 68.

‘‘I had four birdies. I birdied 4, 5 and 9 on the front to shoot 32. On the back, I birdied 17. I bogeyed 15, a par-5,’’ said the tour’s No. 7 money leader.

‘‘(Holes) 4 and 5 got me going. I was even going into that hole (4),’’ she pointed out. ‘‘I hit a 4-iron to about five feet, which was a big boost, because, on that hole, you never expect a birdie, it being so long. On 5, I made a long put, about 40 feet.’’

Then came her most dramatic putt of the day.

‘‘(No.) 17 was a shocker. That pin was front right and I was back left and made it. It was 70 feet probably and it broke probably 12 feet,’’ she said of the difficult par-3 hole.

Bowie, from Edmond, Okla., made All-American three years at perennial NCAA power Arizona State, then transferred to Texas, making All-American again.

Park hit 16 greens in regulation and 12 fairways while making 32 putts. Bowie took 29 putts while hitting 14 greens and 10 fairways.

Ten players are close to the leaders at 69. That group includes Audra Burks of Little Rock, Ark., who is sixth on the money list, and Australia’s Allison Wheelhouse, who has two top 10 finishes in her last three starts.

Also at 69 were Lenore Rittenhouse, Stephanie Belnap, Kim Vinton, Amy Langhals, Joellyn Erdmann, Pamela Kerrigan, Ashley Winn and Cecilia Hedlund.