KEY POINTS:
New Zealand golfer Danny Lee has won his first round of matchplay in the US Amateur golf championship and is confident he can roll over any opposition.
Lee, 18, beat American David Bartman 4 and 3 in the first round of the championship at Pinehurst, North Carolina today.
New Zealand golf high performance manager David Graham, who was with Lee at the tournament, said the Rotorua golfer's game today was solid.
" He made a really good start - right out of the block he made a really nice birdie to get one up early on ," Graham said.
"He only dropped one hole to the guy, and that was just through a tricky little putt that Danny missed ... Aside from that he didn't really do anything horribly all day, a couple of little hiccups but really he just got out, put the guy four behind early on and made him work to try and get back, and he just wasn't up to it."
Tomorrow Lee will face off against another American, Jacob Burger, but Graham said Lee was not particularly concerned about the rival.
"Danny's just taking it at a round at a time at the moment, but he's the best amateur in the world by quite a way at the moment so he's pretty confident he can roll over anyone out there.
"That's not to say that he's complacent, he's just going to go out and take care of what he can do and control his game of golf, and he's pretty confident he'll be there right through to the end."
- NZPA