SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) -England’s Mel Reid and 17-year-old high school student Megha Ganne kept their putters hot amid chilly conditions to card matching 67 and sit tied for the lead after the first round of the U.S. Women’s Open on Thursday.
Reid, who went out as part of the morning wave amid dense coastal fog, carded five birdies and a bogey to take a one-stroke clubhouse lead at four-under early on at the major.
“I didn’t think that score was out there honestly,” Reid said of San Francisco’s Olympic Club, where many in the morning found the Lake Course’s thick rough and struggled to break par.
“I had a pretty good game plan. It’s probably the best I’ve had for a tournament,” said Reid, who said her plan had been hatched with help from four-time men’s major champion Brooks Koepka.
“We had a game plan and stuck to it.”
Reid’s lead appeared safe until American amateur Ganne came out of nowhere in the sunnier afternoon to put on a putting clinic of her own.
Ganne pulled into a share of the lead with a birdie on the par-three 15th and took the lead on the next hole with her sixth birdie of the day on the par-five 16th.
But an errant tee shot on her final hole found the rough and the ensuing bogey dropped her back into a share of the lead.
Ganne, who played in the tournament two years ago as a 15-year-old, said taming her nerves was key to her success.
“I think the first time is nerve-racking for anybody – meeting your idols and being on the stage for the first time,” she said.
“But the second time around, even the practice rounds, I wasn’t as nervous.”
Brooke Henderson (68) looked set to finish tied for the lead but three-putted the last for a bogey, dropping into a share of third with Angel Yin and Megan Khang at three under.
While there was talk before the tournament that the winner might actually finish above par, 15 players finished under par on Thursday including Lexi Thompson, Shanshan Feng and Yuka Saso, who all carded 2-under 69s to sit tied for sixth.
Defending champion Kim A-lim was not so lucky, the South Korean limping home with an eight-over 79.
Thursday marked the first time that the oldest women’s major has been played at The Olympic Club, a course that has hosted five U.S. Opens.
A limited number of fans are on site at the 76th edition of the tournament, which because of the coronavirus pandemic had no fans on site last year.
(Reporting by Rory Carroll; Editing by Steve Orlofsky, Richard Pullin and Peter Rutherford)
