Putter lets down Ko in Canada

The birdies were dropping all over the place but not for Lydia Ko, who battled early in the first round of the LPGA Tour’s Manulife LPGA Classic in Ontario, Canada, yesterday.

The Kiwi world No 1, fresh off a two-week break, made a dreadful start with two bogeys in her first three holes, but bounced back to be three-under over the last 15 holes as she signed for a one-under par 71 at the Whistle Bear Golf Club in Cambridge.

Most weeks that would have her in touch with the leaders, but not this week.

There were birdies galore and Ko finds herself in a potential battle to make the second round cut; she is tied for 86th after the opening round. Ko has never missed a cut in a professional tournament.

The 18-year-old was fairly steady in the opening round, hitting 16 of 18 greens. However, the two times she found the bunker with her approach shot, she failed to get up-and-down. She also required 32 putts.

‘‘I obviously didn’t start well . . . bogeying 12 [which] is kind of a hole where you come up with, at worst, par.

‘‘But yeah, you know, just had a couple misses, and then just the back nine I gave myself more opportunities but just didn’t go in. Holes like nine, you think you would be birdieing it, but hopefully tomorrow there will be many more birdies.

‘‘When you miss putts along the way, you’re not going to shoot a good score. I think I’m hitting the ball good enough that I’ve got a good chance for tomorrow.’’

Cheyenne Woods, Cristie Kerr and PK Kongkraphan matched the course record at nine-under 63 to share the first-round lead on a day when a five-under 67 was only good enough for a 12-way share of 20th place.

Woods, Tiger Woods’ niece, had an eagle, eight birdies and a bogey. The 24-year-old LPGA Tour rookie won the Ladies European Tour’s Australian Ladies Masters last year.

Israel’s Laetitia Beck and Germany’s Sandra Gal were a stroke back. World No 2 Inbee Park opened with a three-under 69.

Meanwhile, top Kiwi men’s golfer Danny Lee has made a poor start to the Memorial Tournament on the PGA Tour.

Lee had six bogeys and three birdies in a three-over 75 to be tied for 102nd after the first round, 11 shots behind the leaders, American Bo Van Pelt and Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama.

Tiger Woods had a one-over 73 to be tied for 85th.

Woods, playing for only the second time since his return at the Masters, was all over the course where he has won five times.

He made bogey on his opening hole of a PGA Tour event for the eighth time in his past nine events. He blocked a tee shot so far right on the 18th that it went out of bounds, and then hit a duck-hook with a 3-wood on the first hole and scrambled for par.

Woods, at age 39, is making more changes to his swing and was sticking to them regardless of the scores on his card.

‘‘I was just trying to stay committed to what we’re working on, to what we’re doing,’’ he said. ‘‘I hit it awful, yeah. So what? I was going to go through this phase and stick with it, keep sticking with it. And some of the shots I hit were really, really good. But then I also had some really bad shots, too. And we need to work on that.’’

Woods has worked with Chris Como since last November. Como is the fourth instructor he has used as a pro, and this would be his fifth swing change (two under Butch Harmon). Previous changes have taken as long as 18 months for Woods to figure it out.

‘‘If you believe in it, do it. And eventually it will start turning,’’ is his attitude.

Time is no longer on his side, however, not at his age and with five surgeries behind him.