Blindsided by unexpectedly blustery early morning conditions, top New Zealand golfer Lydia Ko still managed to finish one shot off the leaders on the first day of the New Zealand Women’s Open on Friday.

The 15-year-old world No.1 amateur was paired in the glamour group with world No.19 Angela Stanford (USA) and Europe’s No.1 Carlota Ciganda (Spain) at Clearwater near Christchurch.

While the Kiwi left a number of chances unfulfilled from close range with the flat stick, she was the pick of the group mixing five birdies with three dropped shots.

She finished one shot behind Australians Nicky Campbell, Tamara Johns and Sarah Oh, who share the lead on three-under-par 69.

Stanford struggled throughout, signing for a six-over 78 while Ciganda shot two-over 74.

Ko had earlier highlighted putting as key to her chances of taking out her first New Zealand Open, and was less than satisfied with her opening-round effort.

“I definitely could have played better, but the scores weren’t that crazy low today and I think that’s because of the wind,” she said afterwards.

“The wind was a surprise, because we were playing in the morning and expected it to be pretty still. That’s a pretty solid score in this wind.”

Ko admitted to some frustration with her putting, a couple of lip-outs proving especially irritating.

“That kind of made me more angry – to me, if it didn’t go in, I’d rather it just not even go near the hole,” she said.

Ko went into the opening round with a goal of three-under and, despite her putting frustrations, finished only one shot astray and is confident she’ll be able to lift further on Saturday.

“There’s still obviously work to do but I didn’t putt horribly, so a couple more practice putts and hopefully I’ll get there in the end.”