You could have excused Jenny Lee if she’d thrown the toys out of the cot at the US Women’s Amateur Championship today.
But the South Australian overcame a nightmarish 20 minutes to stay right in contention at the Portland Golf Club in Oregon.
Lee finished at two under and tied fourth after the first round, with West Australian Hannah Green also prominent in a tie for eighth at one under in the 156-strong field.
US-based Wanasa Zhou (72), of Victoria, and Cathleen Santoso (74), of New South Wales, are also inside the top 64 who’ll advance to matchplay after the second round tomorrow.
Sydney’s Liz Elmassian (77) is tied for 101st, so will need to make up several strokes to push into the knockout phase.
Lee, who began her round on the 10th, made a birdie-bogey start, but soon leapt to the top of the leaderboard after four consecutive birdies from the 14th hole.
But the Glenelg member suffered a quadruple-bogey eight on the first hole – her tenth – followed by a bogey on the second to crash from the leaderboard.
But Lee, a member of Australia’s winning Astor Trophy team this year, showed she’s made of stern stuff with birdies on the fifth, seventh and ninth holes to finish just two behind American joint leaders Jennifer Hahn and Samantha Wagner.
Mount Lawley’s Green finished strongly after being two over through her opening 10 holes after also starting on the back nine.
But the Golf Australia national squad member, who has spent the past seven weeks in the US, poured in birdies on the second, third and fifth holes to scythe through the field.
“I thought I played pretty solid today although I didn't make any putts on my front nine (the back nine),” Green said.
“After I holed a good putt on the second, it all changed from there so I’m very happy overall.”
With the leaderboard tight, Green said she would stick with her game plan tomorrow and will make the most of some crucial local knowledge she has picked up.
“My caddy this week is a board member here so he knows the course really well so that’s been very helpful,” she said.
Green is also benefiting from last month’s Golf Australia national camp in Houston, where she had the chance to catch up with her coach Ritchie Smith and work on her game before tackling one of golf’s most prestigious amateur events.
“Everything that we worked on in Houston is getting better and I’m becoming more confident with every round I play.”