Áine Donegan played the round of her life to become one of the early pace-setters at the US Women's Open at Pebble Beach.
Only 21, the Lahinch amateur made a last minute decision to compete in a 36-hole qualifier in San Francisco for the prestigious major.
She got through that and, despite suffering the setback of her clubs being delayed in transit - and a broken driver head - Donegan is well in the mix after shooting a three under par 69 in her first round of major tournament golf.
The Louisiana State University junior even got off to a bogey-bogey start at the iconic venue where Graeme McDowell won the men's US Open in 2010.
Undeterred, she bounced back in magnificent fashion, hitting 12 of the 14 fairways and 12 of 18 greens in regulation.
But what got her round going was a superb eagle two on the short par 4 15th - her sixth hole - where she holed her approach from 96 yards.
And after that slow start Donegan's putter heated up. A birdie quickly followed so that she made the turn under par and, although she bogeyed the first - her 10th - a barrage of birdies followed, with four in her next five holes.
The last birdie in that run saw the Clare woman move to 4-under par and into top spot, where she was quickly joined by Xiyu Lin.
The Chinese golfer, who is ninth in the world rankings, then moved into the lead on her own at 5-under and, unfortunately for Donegan, she bogeyed her last having left her approach a little short and three-putted from just over 40 ft to leave herself one shot off early clubhouse leader Lin.
However it was a superb start overall for the major rookie, who had played a practice round with Annika Sorenstam on the eve of the tournament.
Leona Maguire is also in action after coming so close to major glory at the PGA Championship two weeks ago and she tees off at 10.24pm.
