New Zealand teenager Lydia Ko has made an encouraging start in her bid for the United States women's amateur golf championship title.
The 14-year-old world's top ranked amateur female today opened her account with a one-under-par 70 at the 5851m Rhode Island Country Club course in Barrington, Rhode Island.
That left the Aucklander four shots outside the lead in a tie for sixth place after the first of two rounds of strokeplay to find the leading 64 players in a field of 156 who will advance to the matchplay section of the championship.
Ko, who won her qualifying event last month, is endeavouring to become the first New Zealand female to win the US crown and replicate the success of compatriot Danny Lee in the equivalent men's championship in 2008.
Her round began with a bump when she bogeyed the par-four second but she immediately grabbed a shot back at the next before dipping to into red figures for the first time with another birdie at the fourth.
