Sorenstam stays in touch

Annika Sorenstam opened her bid for a second Major of the season with a level-par 70 in the US Women's Open at Pine Needles in North Carolina.

Winner of five tournaments this year, including the Nabisco Championship, the Swede was three off the pace set by American Cindy Figg-Currier and Canada's Anna-Jane Eathorne.

Janice Moodie, on her 28th birthday, was the best of the British contingent on 71 but Laura Davies dropped six shots in the last four holes to finish with a 75.

American 13-year-old Morgan Pressel, playing in her first US Open, was far from disgraced by a round of 77.