Golf: Ko wants to go better in round two

World No 1 amateur Lydia Ko is not content with her two over par 74 in the first round of her major debut at the 67th US Open in Wisconsin. Photo / Getty Images.

World No 1 amateur Lydia Ko is not content with her two over par 74 in the first round of her major debut at the 67th US Open in Wisconsin.

The 15-year-old, who is only the second New Zealand amateur to contest the US Open Championship after Olivia Hartley in 1999, lived up to her hype with a composed performance to be in a share of 38th place.

Ko will begin the second round five shots off the pace set by Americans Lizette Salas, Brittney Lincicome and Cristie Kerr, all of whom opened with rounds of three under par 69.

The teenager failed to meet her goal of even par on the notoriously tough Blackwolf Run Golf Club, but was looking forward to working on that tomorrow when she tees off out of the heat of the day at 7.44am.

"There were definitely positives and negatives," Ko said of her two over par 74.

"I think I missed two greens in total and I made bogeys on those two holes. I think short game, just chipping around the greens, if they were better I'll be able to shoot better tomorrow.

"My long distance putting was good. One of them was off but you've got those now and then."

Ko made nine straight pars on the front nine and made a birdie on the 10th to climb inside the top 10 in a share of eighth place.

"I think the wind made it a bit easier. On the long holes there was a bit of helping wind but the greens are getting faster and faster so I wouldn't say it was that easy."

But she dropped shots on the 12th, 14th and the 18th to fall 33 places down the leaderboard. All things considered, it was an impressive start from the teenager who showed great composure in hitting 93 per cent of fairways and 83 per cent of greens.

Ko said the hardest thing to acclimatise to was the heat, which was around 38 degrees for most of her six hour round.

"It was pretty hot. Really sticky, lots of water. I think I've just got to find a way to manage myself and keep cool.

"My goal for tomorrow is to shoot even. I just want to progressively having lower scores and keep getting better and better."

Kiwi professional Cathryn Bristow made a poor start to the championship. The left-hander finished with an 11 over par 83 to be in a share of 150th place.