• Hunt for fourth major in a year is still alive after first round
• Late stutter leaves South Korean three shots off the lead
The American Morgan Pressel and the Swedish outsider Camilla Lenarth outshone the history-chaser Inbee Park in the first round of the Ricoh British Women's Open at St Andrews.
All the pre-tournament focus had been on Park, who is seeking to become the first player – male of female – to win four professional major championships in the same year.
The South Korean looked like putting on a show early on as she raced to six under par after 10 holes, but dropped three shots coming home. A double-bogey six at the 381-yard 16th and another dropped shot at the next looked like ruining what had been a promising round, but she birdied the last to finish with a three-under 69.
"I played very good on the front nine and then I was a little bit shaky on the back nine," Park said. "But I still feel really good about the game. I was six-under through 10 holes and that means I could do the same thing tomorrow.
"There were a couple of bad drives and a couple of bad putts on the back nine, but it's the first round. A little bit disappointing, but I'm glad that I've done that in the first round instead of the final round.
"I was a little bit nervous this morning before I teed off, but then once the round started, and especially playing so good in the first few holes, that really gave me a lot of confidence.
"I didn't feel much pressure when I was playing during the round. I'm just glad that it is already started and I got the first round under my belt."
Park's stutter allowed her rivals to take advantage and Pressel topped the leaderboard on six under par, along with surprise package Lenarth, the world No340, who had three birdies in each half of her round with no dropped shots.
The 25-year-old Pressel, from Florida, posted seven birdies and one dropped shot on the Old Course to take a one-shot lead into the second round ahead of another South Korean, Ji Eun-hee, the 2009 US Women's Open champion.
Two other Koreans – Choi Na-yeon and Jon Mi-jeon – and four other Americans – the world No2 Stacey Lewis, Nicole Castrale, Ryann O'Toole and Sydnee Michaels – also joined her on that score.
