By David Shefter, USGA

Edina, Minn. – Isn’t this supposed to be the United States Women’s Open?

Midway through the opening round Thursday at Interlachen Country Club, the leader board looked more like a United Nations gathering. But for anyone who follows the LPGA Tour on a weekly basis, it’s pretty much the status quo.

You wonder where’s the G8 Convention with those flags from Korea, Sweden, Colombia, Scotland, England, Chinese Tapei, Sweden and even the good ole’ United States of America dotting those contestants tied for seventh or better.

Welcome to women’s golf, where talent comes in all ages and from virtually every corner of the globe, even the Czech Republic, where 15-year-old amateur Jessica Korda, the daughter of former Grand Slam winner Petr Korda, posted an impressive 1-under 72 in round one. In fact, 23 nations are represented this week at the 63rd Women’s Open.

Yet what of the Americans who make up the largest contingent of players? Well, just one, amateur Sydnee Michaels of Temecula, Calif., is perched among the top 14, as she posted a 2-under-par 71.

The early leader is 19-year-old Korean Ji Young Oh, who fired a 6-under-67 for a two-stroke lead over Louise Friberg, 27, of Sweden, and reigning U.S. Women’s Amateur champions Maria Jose Uribe, 18, of Colombia. All Uribe did was best both of her higher-profile fellow competitors, reigning Women’s Open champion Cristie Kerr (72) and world No. 1 Lorena Ochoa (73), the current Kraft Nabisco and Women’s British Open champion, in their three-ball.

With little wind and warm temperatures, scoring conditions were ideal for the world’s best golfers on the longest course in Women’s Open history (6,789 yards). Twenty-one of the 78 players in the morning wave broke par, including 2007 U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links champion Mina Harigae, 18, of Monterey, Calif., who at last week’s WAPL failed to break 80 at Erin Hills and missed the match-play cut, but managed a tidy 72 Thursday.

The group at 3-under-par 70 included 1987 U.S. Women’s Open champion Laura Davies of England, who is one major victory shy of earning enough points to automatically qualify for the Hall of Fame. Davies has 25 points and needs 27 to get in. Davies was joined at 70 by Sweden’s Helen Alfredsson and Scotland’s Catriona Matthew.

Korea’s In-Kyung Kim, the 2005 U.S. Girls’ Junior champion, Australia’s Rachel Hetherington, Ai Miyazoto of Japan and reigning McDonald’s LPGA Championship titlist Yani Tseng of Chinese Taipei were part of a group at 2-under 71.

Michelle Wie, who qualified June 9 at a sectional in Rockville, Md., took a quintuple-bogey 9 at the ninth hole en route to an 81.

Another 78 players, including three-time Women’s Open champion Annika Sorenstam, two-time winner Juli Inkster and 2005 U.S. Women’s Amateur champion Morgan Pressel, had afternoon starting times.

Oh’s best finish in two seasons on the LPGA Tour is sixth at the 2007 Safeway Classic that included a career-best 66 in the first round. She nearly matched that number at Interlachen, making seven birdies against just one bogey at the par-3 fourth where her 7-iron tee shot found a greenside bunker. Two tap-in birdies at 10 and 11 got her round jump-started. Then at the par-4 16th, she knocked her 9-iron approach to 2 feet. Her fourth birdie came at the first hole, a 9-iron to 6 feet and she hit a wedge to the par-5 third to a foot for another tap-in birdie.

She closed her round with a 3 at the challenging par-4 ninth, knocking a hybrid club to 6 feet from 180 yards away.

"Yeah it is a surprise," said Oh on leading the U.S. Women’s Open.

In her first Women’s Open last year, she posted rounds of 75-74 at Pine Needles to miss the cut.

"Big difference," said Oh of her 2008 turnaround. "I like this course. I like the greens. It’s cause the condition is good."

Stepping to the first tee with two major champions, Uribe never felt intimidated and relished the extra gallery attention. While she couldn’t recall every detail from the six-birdie round, Uribe did remember one particular key par putt that helped trigger three consecutive birdies. At the par-3 eighth, she rolled in a 12-footer for par after finding a greenside bunker with her tee shot, delivering an emotional fist-pump in the process before walking across the bridge to the ninth tee.

From there, she knocked her approach within 5 feet at the difficult ninth, then two-putted the par-5 10th for a 4 and ended the troika of birdies by rolling in another nice putt at 11 to get to three under and near the top of the leader board. She closed the round by reaching the par-5 18th in two and just coming up short on a 12-foot eagle attempt.

"I love to have people giving me energy and stuff," said Uribe, who beat three-time NCAA player of the year Amanda Blumenherst, 1 up, in a thrilling Women’s Amateur final last August at Crooked Stick Golf Club. "Even if [the crowds were] not for me … I was just having fun. And I love to play with Lorena. It was a great experience for me."

The 69 was the lowest round in a major for Uribe, who missed the cut in her two previous U.S. Opens and carded an opening-70 at the Kraft Nabisco Championship in April to finish tied for 58th. She also missed the cut earlier this month at the LPGA Championship.

Even when Uribe wasn’t trying to be aggressive, some of her approaches just somehow wound up close to the flagstick.

"It’s just one of those days – like No. 15, I was playing to the right and then I pulled it and hit it close," said Uribe, "and I’m like what? I was just laughing out there. It’s like Tiger’s round in the U.S. Open on Saturday, like he makes it. Those days that everything goes right. And I just took advantage of it. So that’s good."

Friberg, a former standout at the University of Washington and a rookie on the LPGA Tour, earned her first victory earlier this year at the MasterCard Classic in Mexico. Since that win in her third start of the 2008 season, Friberg has yet to finish better than a tie for 34th (McDonald’s LPGA Championship) in nine starts and has missed five cuts. So shooting a 69 in her first-ever Women’s Open was hardly expected.

"The last few weeks I have actually been hitting the ball really well," said Friberg. "I’ve struggled a lot with my short game, my putting. And today … it was great."

Friberg spent a lot of time Tuesday and Wednesday trying to learn the nuances of the undulating greens and it appears that extra work paid off. She made five birdies against just one bogey. Starting on No. 10, Friberg birdied the par-3 12th with a 6-iron to 18 feet and then added another birdie at the short 15th, knocking a 60-degree wedge from 78 yards to 9 feet. By the time she birdied the par-3 fourth and par-4 sixth, she realized her name was at the top of the leader board at five under.

Her drive at the ninth found the right rough and her hybrid from 208 yards went left. A chip and two putts left her with a closing 5.

So with 54 holes left, Friberg has put herself in contention to possibly win a first major.

"Well I was asking around because everyone was like, ‘Oh, the U.S. Open is so different,’ " said Friberg. "And I thought, what’s so different about it? So I asked them what I should be prepared for, and they said lots more people [and] just a little bit different organization.

"They said the rough would be brutal, the greens would be way, way fast. Obviously that’s easy for me to say today that the rough is not brutal because I haven’t been in much. But during the practice round I didn’t think it was that bad. I mean I wouldn’t have a horror dream about it. I like the setup of the course."

David Shefter is a writer for USGA’s New Media. E-mail him with questions and comments at dshefter@usga.org.