Defending champ Minjee Lee four shots off the lead after US Open first round

The excitement at playing a major championship at Pebble Beach is out of the way for Minjee Lee after a rollercoaster opening round.

Defending US Open champion Minjee Lee conceded she needed to “get my butt into gear” after a rollercoaster opening round at Pebble Beach kept her within striking distance of back-to-back titles.

Lee said the move to the iconic venue for the first time, where players are vying for a record $16m prize pool, with $3m for the winner, was a “testament to how the women’s game is growing” after she carved out an even-par 72 to begin her title defence.

The two-time major champion had an even spread of three birdies and three bogeys, having struggled to produce her best consistently so far in 2023 with just one top-10 finish in eight events so far.

She conceded tat she had failed to produce any momentum so far this year and Pebble Beach was the perfect place to get her season going.

“I feel like my game is there, I just haven‘t quite had, I guess, the momentum and just everything come together to really produce a really low one,” she said.

“So hopefully I can get my butt into gear and have a really good second day and the rest of the week.”

Minjee Lee on the seventh green at Pebble Beach. Picture: Ezra Shaw / Getty Images North America / Getty Images via AFP

Lee, who said she “enjoyed my walk” around the coastal course, is aiming to become the first woman since fellow Aussie Karrie Webb in 2000-01 to win back-to-back US Opens.

“I mean, like everybody is saying, it‘s such an iconic venue, and for us to have the opportunity to play, even though it was a little while getting here, I think it’s just really cool that a US Women’s Open winner is going to be on the clock there by the end of the week,” she said.

“I think we’re carving a little bit of our history here, and it’s just such a great place to do it. “I don‘t think there is a cap on where we can go, where we can be or how much better it is going to get. We’re going to venues that I would have never imagined that we would go to, and being here at Pebble obviously is just a testament to how the women’s game is growing and all the people behind us, all the people advocating for women’s golf and the growth of the game.”

Lee will enter the second round four shots off the lead of China’s Xiyu Janet Lin and Korea’s Hyo Joo Kim, who both opened with rounds of 68

Fellow Aussie Grace Kim is a further two shots back after a 74, Hannah Green struggled to a four-over 76, while US Open first-timers Gabriela Ruffels and amateur Maddison Hinson-Tolchard both shot six-over rounds of 78.