Lydia Ko’s solid opening round keeps her in contention at HSBC Women’s World Championship

Amongst a mixed bag of bogeys and birdies, Lydia Ko’s par save on the final hole might have been her most satisfying result.

Her opening round of the HSBC Women’s World Championship in Singapore had a touch of one step back and two forward about it.

The world No 1 eventually signed for a two-under 70 to have her in a 15-way tie for 14th.

The Kiwi ace sits six shots behind runaway leader Elizabeth Szokol, who carded an eight-under 64, but the American has a three-stroke lead over Japan’s Yuka Saso, placing Ko just three shots off outright second and only two behind a six-way tie for third.

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Ko wore a frustrated smile after she watched her tee shot on the 18th sail into the rough on the right of the fairway. But her second shot found the extreme edge of the green and her third was even better.

The lengthy putt stopped just two feet from the hole for a simple tap-in par that would have given Ko a much better feel overnight than a fourth bogey would have.

Her opening round, made up of five birdies and three bogeys was a solid platform for Ko to work with over the next three days in the non-cut tournament.

Ko kicked off her round with a bogey on the par-four first, but by the halfway mark she was sitting at one-under thanks to birdies on both par-threes on the front nine.

She then missed a relatively simple par putt on the 10th – albeit in unlucky fashion as the ball rolled around the rim before flowing out on the other side of the cup – to fall back to even after 10.

A stunning first putt on the difficult par four 12th – rated the second-toughest hole on the course – rescued Ko from the danger of another dropped shot and enabled a simple tap-in for par.

And it set her up two straight birdies on the 13th (par five) and 14th (par four) to advance her to two-under for the first time in her opening round.

But a mixed round on the greens continued when Ko recorded a bogey on the par-five 16th to drop back to one-under, after a par on the 15th.

That lost shot came straight back on the 17th when Ko drained a monster putt to move straight back to two-under.

Ko’s playing partners Nelly Korda and Minjee Lee finished at four-under and even-par.