Lydia Ko has shaken off some nerves to post a solid opening round score at the first LPGA major of the year.
Ko carded a one-under 71 at the Woodlands Country Club in Texas this morning to sit in a tie for 22nd, mixing four birdies with three bogeys.
The World No.1 started her round strong from the back nine, picking up birdies on the 12th and 15th holes before dropping back to one-under on the par-three 17th.
She then tacked on another birdie midway through the front nine on the fifth hole but back-to-back bogeys on the seventh and eighth saw her fall back to even-par.
Ko showed her composure though to round out her round with one final birdie on the ninth.
Shortly after her round, the 25-year-old conceded she had "struggled the first few times" she had played practice rounds at the course.
"I was like, I don't know how I'm going to do this," Ko told NBC Sports.
"But I feel like when you start playing, even if you don't hit it the best you can, you can just manage your way around and not try to make it perfect, just try to shoot the best score.
"I think there were a lot of positives. I wasn't the most confident going into today, so to start off like this, I think there's a lot of good things to take.
"Hopefully I'm going to take all the good for the next few days and take the not-so-good stuff and polish it up a little bit."
Chinese Taipei's Peiyun Chien leads the field at five-under, one shot ahead of a five-way tie for second.
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