BECKY BREWERTON is five strokes off the pace set by Katherine Hull of Australia and Taiwan’s Yani Tseng after the first round of the British Women’s Open at Royal Birkdale.

A birdie at the last gave Abergele professional Brewerton a one-over-par total of 73.

Maesdu’s 16-year-old amateur Amy Boulden was pleased with her debut on the big stage, keeping pace with her much more experienced playing partners American Kristy McPherson and Korean Kyeong Bae by matching Bae’s 78 and going one better than McPherson.

For Brewerton it was a nice day at the office.

“I love this course so I really enjoyed it out there and that was a nice way to finish,” she said.

“It’s nice to have an early tee time at the British. It’s still morning and I’m finished, so it’s perfect.

“I’ve not done very well at the British really in the past,” she added. “In fact the last time it was here was my best when I finished about 25th or something.

“It’s always a difficult tournament because it’s a really good field.

“I had a week off last week, which was nice so I went up to see my coach Stuart Craig up near Edinburgh. I spent four days with him and we played some links golf at Archerfield to practice all the shots needed for this week.

“Then he came down here with me, so I feel really good about this week and that was a good start this morning.”

Brewerton opened with bogey fives at the first two holes and dropped another stroke at the fifth when she found a poor lie in the rough with her tee shot. But then she claimed her first birdie of the day at the long sixth which she reached with a drive and a rescue club and two-putted from 20ft.

She birdied the eighth when she hit a wedge to six feet and sank it and then parred all the way to the 16th where she found the rough with her driver, missed the green left with a six iron then failed to get up and down from there.

On the last she hit a driver, then a three wood into a greenside bunker, splashed out to four feet and sank it.

“We had a couple of showers early on, which passed by quite quickly,” she said. “A couple of them looked like they might be set in but the wind was quite strong so it pushed everything over. We were pretty luck really.

The big time was a great experience for young Boulden and her dad Simon, who is her caddie this week.

“It was fantastic,” said Simon. “What an experience” – a statement confirmed by his youngest daughter after she had signed her card.

Boulden started with a double bogey six at the first, then steadied the ship to drop only one more shot to par on the way out.

She dropped strokes at the first three holes on the way home, then another at the 15th before her birdie finish.

“I was in trouble off the tee, in deep rough on the right,” she said. “I hit a nine-iron out in the fairway then from 99 yards hit a 52 degree wedge to about two feet. It was a nice way to finish.”

Boulden’s birdie at the last brought a rousing cheer from a group of members from Maesdu, which included her older sister Kim, who works with dad in the pro’s shop.

“I really enjoyed it – there was a lot of support and I’m looking forward to the second round.”