Catriona Matthew six back at US Women’s Open

Catriona Matthew was level par for her opening round through 16 holes and six shots off the lead when play at the US Women’s Open was halted for the day.

Starting on the back nine, the Scot was three-under-par for her first 12 holes but fell back with a double-bogey at the fourth and bogey at the sixth, which came at a point when players were forced off for a brief time due to a rain delay.

Matthew will complete her final two holes when play resumes at 6.45am local time [11.45am UK time] at Trump National.

World No.6 Shanshan Feng was, like most others, in the clubhouse at that point and leads on six-under-par – one clear of Amy Yang and two ahead of Lydia Ko, So Yeon Ryu and Carlota Ciganda.

“I started the round really solidly with three birdies in the first four holes,” said Feng. “After that I felt comfortable about everything. It’s my lowest score ever in a US Open and hopefully I can keep that going for the rest of the week.”

Ko, who played alongside Feng, added: “I tried to give myself as many birdie opportunities as I could as I needed to take advantage of the calmer conditions.

“It was disappointing to finish with a bogey at the last but when I see how many good par saves I made throughout the day, I’m ok with that.”

Meanwhile, Carly Booth was four-over-par through 13 holes and Kelsey MacDonald shot a nine-over-par 81.