A rousing finish by Minjee Lee has her well placed after the first round of the women’s Olympic golf competition.

Lee, 20, made three birdies in the final four holes of a rollercoaster round to finish at two-under-par 69 at Barra de Tijuca.

And compatriot Su Oh is also in the mix after also closing an erratic round in style with a great par-saving putt on the 17th followed by a near-eagle up the last for an even-par 71.

The chief issue for both, potentially is the form of the leader, Thailand’s Ariya Jutanugarn, who has landed herself in a familiar position.

Undoubtedly the hottest player on the LPGA Tour, Jutanugarn took a double-bogey on the par-three fourth and a bogey on the 11th, yet still managed to fire a 65 to lead by a stroke from Korean pair Inbee Park and Sei Young Kim.

But four shots back sounds much better than the seven at which Lee had been staring when she took back-to-back bogeys on the 10th and 11th holes dropped her to one over after having been two under early.

But some quality irons – and a good read on a longish putt on 17 – kicked the Perth ace back into gear and she left on a happy note.

“I thought I was solid through the first nine … but then when I was one over, I thought I had to finish strong looking at the scoreboard,” the dual LPGA Tour winner said.

“And I finished strong, so I’m happy with that.

“You can always play yourself out of it on first day, but you can’t win it.

“I’m in a pretty good position going into tomorrow (and) happy with where I stand.”

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Oh began nervously before landing her share of birdies, but mixed in several bogeys to hand back the momentum.

An opening bogey was compounded by a double-bogey from the sandy wasteland on the par-three fourth before two bogeys to begin the back nine suddenly had her in red figures.

“I really fought hard out there, I didn’t get off to a great start and then it kind of just unravelled (on the fourth),” the Melburnian said.

“I didn’t do anything bad, but I hit three really bad shots and I just couldn’t get back into play.

“But (later) I made some really good saves … (so) I’m happy with even for today.”

Oh said there was no substitute for experience on the course and admitted to making errors into places from which she hadn’t rehearsed.

“I found spots I didn’t really see beforehand,” Oh said with trademark grin.

“Then my save on 17, I made it a lot harder than it needed to be.

“But I was happy with the last just to keep it going for tomorrow.”

Winds are expected to gust up for the second round, but all bar one of the big names won’t need to chase scores after posting openers of par or better.

World No.1 Lydia Ko, of New Zealand, made a spectacular eagle from 110m on the 15th to finish at two-under 69, while American Lexi Thompson set the tone for the Aussies with five birdies mixed with a couple of bogeys in her 68.

The exception to the rule was Korean Amy Yang, the world No.9, who leaked to a lacklustre 73 to put her gold medal hopes in grave doubt.

Leaderboard: http://www.igfgolf.org/olympic-games/scores/womens/