Leona Maguire declared she'd taken "a big step forward" as she birdied two of her last three holes at Pine Needles Lodge to break par for the first time in a US Women's Open.

The Co Cavan star has missed the cut in her first three attempts in the game's most demanding major, never shooting better than 74 and averaging 75.5 for her six previous rounds.

But she ended that horror run in Thursday's opening round in steamy North Carolina with a one-under 70 leaving her tied 18th, just six shots behind American Mina Harigae.

Scores

"I've never shot, I don't think, even par or under par in any US Open, so today is a big step forward for me," said the world number 25, who made a 30 footer at the sixth (her 16th after starting on the ninth), then recovered from a bogey at the seventh, where she was bunkered, by hitting a 114 -yard wedge inside eight feet at the eighth.

"And obviously nice to be back in North Carolina again. There's a few Duke people supporting me today and a few Irish people, so yeah, it's nice to be back."

Stephanie Meadow battled her way back from two-over after just three holes to post a one-over 71 that was good enough for a tie for 47th.

But Maguire was on the ball from the off in the afternoon heat, rolling in an 18 footer for birdie at her opening hole.

She would three-putt the 14th from 27 feet but made a two from 14 feet at the 16th, then bounced back from a bogey off a poor drive at the second with that solid finish.

"I think it's a course you have to stay really patient on, obviously going to have to take your chances where they come, and feel like I did a really good job of hitting a lot of middles of greens," she said.

"And it was nice to hole that long one on six and hit one close on eight to finish. Some good momentum heading into tomorrow.

"It was warm; the ball was flying. The wind was a little swirly, so we just had to pick our moments. It's firming up a little bit, maybe not quite as much as we would have thought, but yeah, you just have to hit good quality golf shots, and for the most part, I did that today."

Maguire hit 13 of 14 fairways, but she crucially missed only four greens in regulation and made five putts outside 10 feet.

"I just had one loose drive on the second, but I felt like I drove it really nice, and that sort of set me up for hitting a lot of the shots into the greens," she said.

"It's that kind of golf course; you hit a lot of fairways, a lot of greens, and try and roll in a few."

Chasing a winner's cheque for $1,800,000 in a record-setting $10 million US Women's Open, Maguire is not lacking motivation close to her college alma mater.

"It's the biggest event on the calendar," she said. "Obviously, this year, with the massive purse increase, everybody wanted to be here and everybody wants to be here for the weekend."

After going out in the late afternoon sun, she was looking forward to an early night before heading out early on fresh greens in cooler conditions for her second round.

"Yeah, it's a quick turnaround, but it'll be nice to be out in the cooler weather tomorrow morning," she said.

Leader Harigae carded a seven-under 64 that featured nine birdies to lead by a shot from Swedish amateur Ingrid Lindblad, whose six-under 65 set a championship scoring record for the low 18 holes by an amateur.
Ryann O'Toole opened with a 4-under 67 to share third with major champions Minjee Lee and Anna Nordqvist.

Meadow is on the cut line after her one-over 72, but she was pleased to hang tough after early bogeys at her second and third holes.

"Honestly, birdie or not, but just hitting a solid iron shot after hitting some bad ones to start was a nice feeling," she said of her first birdie from 13 feet at the 12th (her fourth hole).

"So from there, I just played pretty solid golf. It's tricky, and it's tough, especially when you get over par and you're trying to fight back. You go the other way because you can make unforced errors, so it's just one of those golf courses."

She would bogey the 17th after a poor drive to turn in two-over but then hit a drive almost 300 yards at the first and two-putted for a birdie four and followed a bogey four at the fifth with a birdie at the sixth, where she holed a 14 footer.

Like her Olympic team mate Maguire (1.54 pm), she's looking forward to taking on the more accessible front nine early today (12.59 pm).

"It would be nice to get a good start," Meadow said. "Obviously, I didn't look at the leaderboards out there today. I was shocked that it was tied 40-something on one-over, so it's playing tough, and the wind was a little tricky.

"It will be nice to get out in the morning and start on the easier side and hopefully, I can get something rolling."
Third on her professional debut in the US Open on its last appearance in North Carolina in 2014, she's pleased to be back.

"It's great," she said. "Brings back a lot of the great memories. It's hard to believe it was that many years ago. So much has happened since then, but still seems like it was yesterday. So I love this area. I used to live in South Carolina, so definitely fond memories.”

Rolex Rankings No. 52, Mina Harigae (64)

• She hit 14 of 14 fairways and 14 of 18 greens, with 24 putts

• This is Harigae’s 13th season on the LPGA Tour; she has no career victories and 19 career top-10s, most recently a tie for third at the 2021 CME Group Tour Championship

• This is Harigae’s 12th appearance in the U.S. Women’s Open; her best finish is a tie for 28th in 2012 at Blackwolf Run

• Her best finish in a major championship is T13, recorded at the 2020 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship and the 2021 AIG Women’s Open

• Harigae was a member of the 2021 U.S. Solheim Cup

• She was a member of the 2008 U.S. Curtis Cup team

• Harigae won the 2007 U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links at Kearney Hills Golf Links

CHAMPIONSHIP FORMAT

156 players; 72 holes, stroke play, cut to top 60 and ties after 36 holes