New Zealand golf prodigy Lydia Ko showed no ill effects from six weeks away from competitive action to be in touch with the leaders after the opening round of the year’s first women’s major tournament.

Ko, 15, carded an even-par 72, opening round featuring three birdies and three bogeys to sit four shots behind the leaders at the $US2 million ($A1.93 million) LPGA Championship at the Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage, California.

Playing with big-name American Michelle Wie and starting on the back nine, Ko birdied the par-4 10th before dropping a shot on the next hole.

She was back to one-under five holes into her round, but gave up that shot at the next hole before turning at one-under after a birdie at the par-3 17th.

A dropped shot on the seventh dropped her to even-par for the round, level with 20 other golfers including Wie.

South Korea’s Na Yeon Choi, Norway’s Suzann Pettersen and Jodi Ewart Shadoff of England shot rounds of 68 to share the lead at four-under.

The tournament is Aucklander Ko’s third LPGA appearance this year but her first since she finished 14th at the LPGA Thailand tournament in February. She returned home to concentrate on schoolwork and work on her swing.

Ko, the world’s top amateur, won the New Zealand Women’s Open and was third at the Australian Open earlier this year and is ranked 25th in the world.

Her best result at her two other appearances at a major championship is 17th at the British Open last year.

Ko – the youngest player to win an LPGA title when victorious at the Canadian Open last August – has yet to miss a cut in 14 professional tournaments.