Royal County Down Ladies’ Olivia Mehaffey was bitterly disappointed to open with a three-over 75 at Champions Retreat to trail Spain’s Ana Peláez Triviño and American world number one Rose Zhang by four shots before play was suspended due to inclement weather in the Augusta National Women’s Amateur.

The Arizona-based Banbridge star bogeyed the second and seventh but birdied the par-five ninth to turn in one-over before she dropped further shots at the 16th and 17th, ending the day tied for 32nd with Forrest Little’s Julie McCarthy tied 56th on five-over with three holes of her opening round to complete today.

Leaderboard

“I thought it was tougher than last year,” Mehaffey said. “I felt that from the practice round. The wind was a little bit swirly at times. It was really hard to judge. I hit a nice shot into 17, and the wind kind of picked up, and it was short. I thought it was pretty difficult today.”

She added: “It almost has that U.S. Open feel. It's like a grind. There's a few holes out there, where I'm quite long, and I had quite a few long irons in there today. It just has that U.S. Open, like the greens are quite firm. It's a little bit wet around the chip shots on the green. It feels like a U.S. Open. That's kind of like the way I think the scores are going to be this year.”

Mehaffey has been struggling for consistency over the past six months as she revamps her swing under Jorge Parada but she knows she could well produce her best stuff today.

“The way I’ve been playing recently, I’ve been on some average runs and some really great runs,” she said. “I’m just trying to be patient. You never really know what’s happening. I was out of the tournament and shot 10 under the last time a couple of weeks ago to kind of get back in contention. 

“So it’s one of those games at the minute. You just don’t know what it’s going to be tomorrow. It's more important about not putting yourself completely out of it today. I think I grinded quite well today. I didn't have my best stuff at all.”

Explaining the challenges she faces, she said: “Sometimes it’s easy, and you feel like you’re kind of just on autopilot. It’s not necessarily like that right now, but I know I can go low. Yeah, it’s a three-day tournament. As long as you don’t put yourself out of it in the first day.”

Only the top 30 make the 36-hole cut and qualify for Saturday’s final round at Augusta National and having secured a top local caddie, Brian McKinley, the Augusta bagman who helped Jennifer Kupcho to victory two years ago, she’s determined to play all three days.

“I think this almost makes it harder,” she said of the pressure to make the cut and play the Masters course on Saturday. “We’re not playing for money now, so I don’t know what that feels like for the pros. It was definitely the most nervous, I think, coming down close to the cut line before. So it’s nice to have that experience, but I know what it’s going to be like tomorrow, and I think it’s going to be tough. 

“I just think it's going to be a grind. It was a grind out there today. We had pretty good conditions. Tomorrow you just have to go into it knowing, even though it's not necessarily pretty, it's going to be cold and quite windy, I believe. So I think it's going to be tough tomorrow.”

Peláez and Zhang shot one-under 71’s to lead by a shot in the clubhouse from American Auston Kim, Italy’s Emilie Alba Paltrinieri and England’s Annabell Fuller.

But it was a tougher day for Auburn University star McCarthy, who has not played a tournament since last October.

She double-bogeyed the first hole and bogeyed the fourth, 11th and 15th to slip to five-over as play was suspended.

American Katherine Smith topped the leaderboard on four-under after 11 holes with play to resume from 1245 Irish time today.