Former champion Minjee Lee has confirmed her class as soon as extra to flee the carnage on a dramatic opening day on the $18 million Ladies’s US Open in Pennsylvania.
World No.1 Nelly Korda was among the many huge names to endure a first-round horror present as Lee led a faltering Australian problem with a steely even-par 70 on the stunning however beastly Lancaster Nation Membership exterior Philadelphia.
Lee shook off two sloppy three-putts and a painful long-range lip-out on the again 9 to be tied for fifth, simply two pictures off the tempo in pursuit of a 3rd main championship in three years – and a $US2 million ($A3 million) pay day on the richest occasion in ladies’s golf historical past.
It was no coincidence fellow former winner Yuka Saso topped the leaderboard with a two-under 68 as a raft of superstars slipped out of competition on the opening day.
Korda’s hopes of back-to-back majors – and a seventh win of the 12 months – ended on her third gap, the brutal par-3 twelfth, when the American hit three balls right into a stream en path to a ghastly septuple-bogey 10.
Korda wound up with an 80, as did New Zealand’s former world No.1 Lydia Ko and Canada’s fellow a number of main winner Brooke Henderson.
The day’s common rating was greater than 5 over par, the best in a decade at a US Open, with American prodigy Rose Zhang (79) and retiring nice Lexi Thompson (78) amongst these to additionally fall sufferer to the treacherous situations.
Lee, although, held her nerve to remain proper within the combine, simply two again of Japan’s Saso and one behind the one different three gamers to complete in pink numbers with rounds of 69 – Thailand’s Wichanee Meechai, French novice Adela Cernousek and American Andrea Lee.
The 2022 champion is in a 10-way tie for fifth after offsetting 5 bogeys with 5 birdies on Thursday.
Gabriela Ruffels and Sarah Kemp are the subsequent greatest Australians.
Ruffels rallied from two early double bogeys, whereas Kemp hit 4 bogeys in her outward 9, and 7 general, as each carded a 75 – one higher than Lee’s in-form Perth stablemate Hannah Inexperienced.
Inexperienced, as much as world No.5 following a two-win begin to the 12 months, let it slip with a back-nine 41 after making birdie on the ninth to pull herself again to even par.
The 2019 PGA Championship winner’s troubles began with a brief missed putt on 11 earlier than she discovered the water on the twelfth and took double.
Inexperienced racked up three extra bogeys coming residence and might want to struggle on Friday to make the midway minimize.
Main championship debutant Keeley Marx additionally posted a 76, with Steph Kyriacou propping up the Australian contingent with a 77.
