This on a Wednesday when defending champions Sweden stayed firmly in contention in joint second place with host nation South Africa and surprise package, Chinese Taipei, all with 5-under aggregates of 139, but also when strongly favoured USA struggled home at the longer Stellenbosch Golf Club in 8th place with an even par 144.

Ironically it was their 15-year-old US Open Champion Kimberley Kim who battled the most.

Playing at the front of the field, Kim shot a 4-over 76, leaving team-mates Amanda Blumenherst with a 1-under 71, and Jennie Lee with a 1-over 73 to hold the fort together with an even par 144 - and hoping for better tomorrow.

England, a shot behind the US in joint 9th place with Korea and Spain, was the best of the Brits on day one, Sophie Walker (72) Kerry Smith (73) being their day's counting scorers at the tighter, but shorter De Zalze course

Coming from one of women's leading golfing nations, it was not entirely surprising that Japan were able to start so well,

The highly talented 16-year-old Morita's 65 not only broke the De Zalze record and put her on top of the individual leaderboard by a shot from Taipei's Pei-Lin Yu, it also set a new record for the lowest individual first-round score in Espirito Santo history.

"I hit my tee shots long and straight and I hit my irons close," said Morita, a second-year high school student from Kyoto, after carding an eagle, six birdies and a bogey for her personal best competitive round

The 2006 Japan Women's Amateur Public Golf champion felt she had benefited from top quality preparations.

"After 1998, we started to make a game plan for this championship," said Japan's captain Mayumi Satofuka.

"We discussed course management and our teams have been very good at following the game plan." Satofuka added after pointing out that since 1998, Japan had finished in the top 10 in all three World Championships.

They were 7th in 2000, tired for 6th in 2002 and tied for 4th in 2004.

But it will be a long few days before the fat lady sings and they might still regret that the other two players in their trio, Mika Miyazato and Erina Hara could no better than a 72 and 2-over 74 respectively.

Sweden and South Africa, who played together in the first round, are looking especially dangerous because of their greater consistency.

Sweden's Anna Nordqvist, 19 of Eskilstuna, shot the lowest round of the day at De Zalze Golf Club with a 4-under-par 68 while tea-mate Sofie Andersson, 23, of Angelholm and a member of the winning team in Puerto Rico, added a 1-under 71 in their 5-under-par total of 139.

This possibly because "When they played our national anthem last night, we stood a little taller," Andersson said

South Africa, meanwhile, seemed intent on making the most of their first home World Amateur Championship, Ashleigh Simon, 17, of Johannesburg, shooting a 3-under 69 and Kelli Shean, 18, of Cape Town, posting a 2-under 70 to take joint 3rd and joint 7th place respectively on the individual leaderboard.

"We know we have a good team and we just have to go out and show it," Simon said.

ALL THE FIRST ROUND TEAM SCORES
(D - De Zalze GC; S - Stellenbosch GC)

-7 Japan (S) 137
-5 Sweden (D) 139
-5 South Africa (D)139
-5 Chinese Taipei (S)139
-3 Germany (D) 141
-2 Canada (S) 142
-1 Australia (S) 143
E USA (S) 144
+1 Korea (D 145
+1 Spain (S) 145
+1 England (D) 145
+2 New Zealand (S) 146
+2 France (S) 146
+3 Colombia (D) 147
+4 Italy (D) 148
+5 Netherlands (D) 149
+5 Finland (S) 149
+5 Czech Republic (D) 149
+6 Russian Federation (S) 150
+6 Wales (S) 150
+6 Chile (S) 150
+6 Venezuela (S) 150
+7 Mexico (S) 151
+7 Austria (S) 151
+8 Belgium (S) 151
+8 Ireland (S) 152
+9 Scotland (S) 153
+9 Argentina (D) 153
+10 Iceland (S) 154
+10 Brazil(S) 154
+11 Norway (D) 155
+11 Philippines (D) 155
+13 Puerto Rico (D) 157
+16 Bermuda (D) 160
+18 Guatemala (D) 162
+19 Switzerland (S) 163
+20 Trinidad & Tobago (D) 164
20 Egypt (D) 164
+24 Slovakia (D) 168
+31 Croatia (D) 175
+32 Zambia (D) 176
+47 Gabon (D) 191

THE TOP 10 INDIVIDUAL SCORES:
-7 Rikako Morita (Japan) (S) 65
-6 Pei-Lin Yu (Taipei) (S) 66
-4 Anna Nordqvist (Sweden) (D) 68
-3 Emma Bennett (Australia) (S) 69
-3 Sandra Gal (Germany) (D) 69
-3 Ashleigh Simon (RSA) (D) 69
-2 Laura Matthews (Canada) (S) 70
-2 Kelli Shean (RSA) (D) 70
-1 Sofie Andersson (Sweden) (D) 71
-1 Amanda Blumenherst (USA) (S) 71
-1 Belen Mozo Spain) ((D) 71
-1 Anna Rossi (Italy) (S) 71