Ko Starts Strong at Women's British Open HOYLAKE, England - Lydia Ko was climbing the first-round leader board Thursday at the Women's British Open when her group was put on the clock for slow play. The irony was funnier than any punch line delivered by Ko's coach and caddie, Guy Wilson, who told her jokes between shots at Royal Liverpool Golf Club to keep her relaxed. Not progressing in a timely fashion tends not to be an issue for the 15-year-old Ko, who last month was crowned the United States Women's Amateur champion and then became the youngest winner on the L.P.G.A. tour. Playing Royal Liverpool Golf Club in the morning, before the wind picked up and the temperatures dropped precipitously, Ko completed her round in 4 hours 35 minutes and carded an even-par 72. She was tied with a group that included top-ranked Yani Tseng, and was two strokes off the clubhouse leader Haeji Kang, a 21-year-old South Korean. "It was a good feeler of a round to give us an idea of what is out there," Wilson said. Ko, a South Korean-born New Zealander, was one-under after nine holes when she and her playing partners, Lexi Thompson and Kaori Ohe, were told a second time that they needed to pick up the pace. The first group off the 10th tee, the threesome made the turn in 2 hours 20 minutes, which was speed golf compared to the six-hour rounds that were the norm during Ko's major championship debut in June at the United States Women's Open. She finished as the low amateur, in a tie for 39th. "At that point you're kind of like, "Oh my God, I don't want to get penalized," " said Ko, who did not appear stressed. Then again, not much appears to faze her, her equanimity on the course winning her raves among veteran like the 48-year-old Laura Davies, who described her temperament as "brilliant" and said, "She is very calm and I don't think a bogey or a double bogey will affect her." At No. 1, a brute of a par 4, Ko and Thompson hit their tee shots and were standing by their balls by the time Ohe, who had ducked into a portable toilet and had not heard the second warning, arrived at the tee box. After hitting her drive, Ohe sprinted down the fairway to catch up with her playing partners in a scene reminiscent of the games of chase that Wilson used to play with Ko between shots when she was younger to keep the game from getting boring. Using her 3-wood, Ko put her drive in the fairway, which is protected by bunkers and looks as narrow as an emery board from the tee box. She hit her 5-wood approach to 10 feet and made the uphill birdie putt to move, temporarily, into a share of the lead, at minus-2. She was tied with Paula Creamer and Karrie Webb, who have a combined eight major titles, and Charley Hull, a 16-year-old amateur from Britain. Hull finished with a 71, as did Webb, while Creamer posted a 73. Ko and Wilson laughed as they walked off the green, but not at the absurdity of two teenagers atop the leader board of the women's fourth major, which was pushed back several weeks this year so it would not coincide with the London Olympics. In practice rounds on Monday and Wednesday, which Ko played in heavy rain and howling winds, she had double-bogeyed the first hole. Twice on her second nine she made back-to-back bogeys: on Nos. 2 and 3 and 6 and 7. Ko's par putt on the sixth, after a bad chip, came up four feet short and she had a two-footer rim out on the seventh. She also missed a short putt for par at No. 11, after birdieing her opening hole, the 493-yard par-5 10th. "That's not good," she said, adding that she finds the shorter putts harder than the longer ones. "A three-foot putt can be more nerve-racking than a nine-foot putt because a three-foot putt you should be getting in," she explained. A nine-footer, there's a chance it won't go in. So maybe that's why that happens. By the time Ko's group arrived at the par-3 sixth, play was backed up and they had to wait several minutes for the green to clear. "While that little incident with the clock looks like it affected us, I don't think we can blame it," Wilson said, adding, "But it's difficult. As a group we were trying to go as quick as possible and then you go from running to pretty much crawling. The fierce winds that were forecast for the afternoon never materialized and the rain that can make the course a pain also stayed away. "Today was probably the easiest it'll ever play," Ko said, alluding to the relatively benign weather in the morning. She added: "I think this is one of the hardest golf courses I've ever played. Shooting even par, it's not a bad round and I think it's a pretty good start. A member of the Britain and Ireland team that beat the United States in the Curtis Cup earlier this year, Hull has played in four other pro events in 2012. While she has not matched Ko's success, she has made each cut. "It's been good," Hull said. I just pretend I'm out there playing with my mates. 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 expectations. Hull was asked if she knows Ko. "Well, I've heard of her," she said, adding, "I think she's pretty awesome, though, isn't she?"