Americans dominate top of U.S. Women's Open leaderboard

• By Randall Mell
• Jul 5, 2012 9:41 PM ET

KOHLER, Wis. – Cristie Kerr and the Americans saved some Fourth of July fireworks for the U.S. Women’s Open.

It was a star spangled banner start Thursday at Blackwolf Run.

Kerr, Brittany Lincicome and Lizette Salas each shot 3-under-par 69 to share the first-round lead.

Lexi Thompson, 17, another American, is among players a shot back.

Kerr showed some fight right from the start. After missing the cut last week at the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship, Kerr got off to a rough start to this U.S. Women’s Open. She hooked her first tee shot in the water. But after taking a drop, Kerr stiffed her approach from 134 yards to 18 feet and saved par.

Kerr and Beatriz Recari (70) posted the only bogey-free rounds of the day.

“I found some determination and fire in my belly,” said Kerr, who won the 2007 U.S. Women's Open. “After hooking that tee shot in the hazard, I made an unbelievable par. That proved to myself I was there. In a way, it was good that happened. I said to myself `No, I'm not letting it go this way today. I'm not letting it go this way this week.' That has been the difference in the inconsistency of my game this year.  I called it up, I found it.”

Americans have been shut out in the last five major championships. They’re looking to claim their first since Stacy Lewis won the Kraft Nabisco Championship at the start of the 2011 season.