Andrea Lee did not see this coming. The 26-year-old American birdied four of her last five holes at Mountain Ridge Country Club to fire a six-under 66 and seize the opening-round lead at the Mizuho Americas Open in West Caldwell, New Jersey.
"I really didn't see six-under today to be honest, so I'm quite pleased," Lee said after her round. The number was built on a strategy that the LPGA Tour rewards more often than not. "Staying really patient, trying to hit as many greens and fairways as possible."
The back-nine surge tipped a steady round into a leading one, and her putter did the heavy lifting. "I rolled the rock really well," Lee said. "Just picked really good start lines and hit the ball where I wanted to and visualized all the putts going in and they did."
Defending champion Jeeno Thitikul sits a shot behind alongside Lydia Ko after matching five-under 67s, putting both women in obvious early position to chase Lee on Friday. Thitikul, the Thai world No. 2, has been searching for a return to the imperious form she showed in 2025; Mountain Ridge offered an early answer, with broadcasters singling out her tightened distance control after weeks where her irons had drifted off-line.
Ko, the New Zealand veteran, also offered a piece of equipment intrigue. Asked about a putter switch she has made in recent weeks, her coach Chris Cho explained the change was about feel — that a toe-hang head was giving her more face awareness through the stroke after a long stretch using a face-balanced design. Whatever the science, Ko's stroke looked decisive on greens that demanded conviction.
Further back, Brooke Matthews and South Korea's Choi Hye-jin opened with four-under 68s to anchor the next pack of contenders.
The afternoon wave produced its own subplots. Michelle Wie West, playing only her third LPGA event since stepping back from full-time competition, navigated the closing stretch in stretches of vintage form, including a confident drive at the 15th and a balanced wedge into the 18th green. Lilia Vu, dogged by back issues over the last two seasons, showed the lower-back is finally letting her swing freely. The American major champion told the LPGA broadcast at last month's Chevron Championship that she was no longer in pain — and she rolled in a relieved birdie at 17 here to back it up.
Mountain Ridge is a 6,735-yard, par-72 layout that is unfamiliar to most of the field — only a handful of players competed in the inaugural Mizuho event of 2021. The greens have been holding firm, with broadcasters noting how often putts were finishing well above the hole, leaving the kind of slick downhill comebackers that hover between birdie and bogey.
Lee, a 24-year-old when she won her first LPGA title in 2023 and a Solheim Cup veteran, has built a career on patience rather than fireworks. The Mizuho event sits as one of the LPGA's richest non-major weeks at $3.25 million, and only the top 50 will play the weekend because of the AJGA junior pairings format that adds a developmental layer through the first two rounds.
Three rounds remain. Lee leads, the world No. 2 is one back, and a cluster of Solheim and major winners is breathing down her neck.
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*Originally published on [Golf News Global](https://golfnews.global/article/andrea-lee-mizuho-americas-open-2026-round-one-66-lead). Visit for full coverage.*
