World No 1 amateur Lydia Ko made a solid start to her major debut at the 67th US Open on the notoriously tough Blackwolf Run Golf Club in Wisconsin.
The 15-year-old, only the second New Zealand amateur to contest the US Open Championship after Olivia Hartley in 1999, carded a two-over par 74 in round one to be in a share of 41st place.
Ko made nine straight pars on the front nine and a birdie on the 10th to climb inside the top 10 in a share of eighth place.
But she dropped shots on the 12th, 14th and the 18th to fall 33 places down the leaderboard and is currently five shots back from leader Lizette Salas of America.
But it was an impressive start from the teenager who showed great composure hitting 93 per cent of fairways and 83 per cent of greens in her major debut.
