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Minjee Lee has made an impressive first-round recovery to trail world No.1 and Olympic gold medallist Nelly Korda by four shots at the Women's British Open.
Minjee Lee overcame a mid-round car crash to briefly share the clubhouse lead as rampant world No.1 Nelly Korda made an ominous start to the AIG Women's British Open in Scotland.
Chasing back-to-back major championships and the biggest purse in women's golf history, Lee carded a rollercoaster one-under-par 71 to be the leading Australian after Thursday's morning wave.
But the 25-year-old rued dropping five shots in a horror three-hole stretch around the turn before eventually finishing the opening round four shots adrift of Korda.
Fresh off capturing the Olympic Games gold medal in Tokyo, Korda lived up to her tournament favouritism with a 67 to be sharing top spot on the leaderboard with Swede Madelene Sagstrom.
Sagstrom was the first-round leader in Tokyo before Korda seized command with an Olympic-record-equalling 61 in round two.
A fortnight on and the 23-year-old American is on track to add a second major of the year to her Olympic gold, having also won the US PGA Championship in June.
"I played well. Took advantage of kind of the calmer day," Korda said after mixing eight birdies with three bogeys around Carnoustie's notoriously tough links layout.
"I just took advantage of all my opportunities and played some solid golf."
Riding high after stunning come-from-behind breakthrough at last month's Evian Championship in France, Lee learnt before teeing off that the prize pool for the season's final major had been boosted to a staggering $US5.8 million ($A8 million).
The winner's cut alone is $US870,000 ($A1.2 million).
"I'm pretty speechless. I mean, it's not a small amount of money but I feel like it's what we deserve and (provides) just little bit more motivation to go out there and play well," Lee said.
The motivation showed as Australia's world No.11 made a blazing start, opening with successive birdies before draining another on the sixth hole to charge to three under.
But two dreaded doubles on the eighth and 10th holes, either side of a bogey, suddenly sent Lee tumbling down the leaderboard to two over.
Instead of unravelling, though, she rebounded gamely with a birdie, then a brilliant tap-in eagle on the par-5 12th to swiftly return to red figures.
Continuing her tenacious fightback, Lee went within a centimetre of holing out for an ace with a hybrid at the beastly par-3 16th.
But she gave that birdie straight back with a bogey on 17 after leaving her ball in a greenside pot bunker before closing with a par after a short missed putt at the last.
"I would probably sum it up as eventful," Lee said.
"I played really well the first seven holes, and then I got to eight, nine and 10
and I sort of had a bit of a bloop.
"Then I came back really strong so I just need to do a little bit better those three holes, and I think I'll be in a good position."
Lee's Olympic teammate Hannah Green went out of bounds for a double-bogey on the sixth en route to a 73, while Australian amateur Kirsten Rudgeley endured a nightmare major debut, signing for a 14-over 86.
After successfully qualifying for the Open, and coming in with two amateur wins in the UK in the past six weeks, 20-year-old Rudgeley's round comprised of two doubles, 10 bogeys, just six pars and not a single birdie.
