Brisbane's Emily Mahar has put herself into contention to reach the match play phase of the US Girls' Junior championship.
Mahar, who moved with her family to Arizona for her golf in late 2012, fired a first-round three-over-par 74 at the Boone Valley Golf Club in Missouri to rank T35 with one round of stroke play remaining.
The top 64 after tomorrow's second round will advance.
Steph Kyriacou, of New South Wales, has work ahead of her after an opening 78 left her in a share of 91st.
But the bubbly Sydneysider remains confident if she can tame her wayward putter in time.
Mahar, who began her round off the 10th tee, twice gave back birdies with an immediate bogey early on the back nine, but then threw in a double on the par-three 16th.
After a birdie on the first, she again gave back momentum with bogeys on the fourth and seventh, but hung on well to give herself a three-shot buffer over those currently on the wrong side of the cut line.
Mahar, 17, who began playing at Keperra Golf Club, will began her university studies and golf career in the coming months for Virginia Tech.
She has previously played this pinnacle tournament in girls' junior golf twice, remarkably first qualifying in 2013 weeks before her 13th birthday.
Mahar's a two-time Junior Golf Association of Arizona player of the year and has 13 top-10 finishes in American Junior Golf Association and JGAA events, including four victories and three runner-up finishes since December, 2015.
Kyriacou, a member at St Michael's and part of both junior and senior NSW state teams, found herself on the bogey train early after also starting on the back nine, but eventually found her range with a birdie on the long sixth hole as her nerves calmed.
"There were some nerves on the first tee," Kyriacou told Golf NSW.
"Nothing dropped all day; I had so many lip-outs.
"I was so happy to make (that) birdie.
"I headed straight to the practice green after I finished."
Although frustrated by her putting, there were highlights.
"On the 18th, you have to hit over an enormous amount of water and the pin was at the front, I had a hybrid (and) put it to about 12 feet."