Teens Hull, Ko start fast at Women's British Open

• By Ryan Lavner
• Sep 13, 2012 1:51 PM ET

Two teenagers are making the Ricoh Women’s British Open look like child’s play.

British teen sensation Charley Hull, 16, shot a 1-under 71 Thursday in her Open debut to sit one shot off the lead at Royal Liverpool. That is one shot better than 15-year-old Lydia Ko, a winner three weeks ago in Canada, and world No. 1 Yani Tseng.

A member of the victorious Great Britain & Ireland team at this year’s Curtis Cup, Hull is making her fifth pro start of the season. Her best finish previously was a fifth at the Turkish Airlines Ladies Open. She also tied for 38^th at the Kraft Nabisco Championship, the LPGA’s first major of the year.

On Thursday in Hoylake, England, Hull birdied two of the first five holes, bogeyed No. 8 and closed with 10 consecutive pars to post 1 under, tied with Karrie Webb, Ai Miyazato and Jiyai Shin, last week’s winner, among others.

Haeji Kang and So Yeon Ryu are the first-round leaders, at 2-under 70.

“I pretend I’m just playing with my mates,” Hull said, according to the BBC. “I know it’s a major, but that’s how I try to treat it and I wasn’t very nervous because I don’t have any expectations.”

The same can’t be said for Ko, whose record-breaking victory Aug. 26 in Canada became worldwide news. In only her second career major, she entered the tournament with 25-to-1 odds.