PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. >> Pebble Beach was everything the best woman golfers in the world imagined for the first U.S. Women’s Open with its raw beauty, marine layer and chill in the air.

For some of them, it was a sheer beast.

Xiyu Janet Lin and Hyo Joo Kim could soak up the scenery, each of them with a 4-under 68 on Thursday to share the lead after one round of a historic week on one of the most famous golf courses in America.

“We’re part of the history. It’s really cool,” Lin said. “I kind of told myself no matter what, this is going to be a memorable week.”

Hawaii’s Allisen Corpuz ended the round among six players one shot behind the leaders at 3 under. The Punahou graduate carded four birdies Thursday afternoon, the last coming on No. 8 — her 17th hole — to get her back to 3 under after posting her lone bogey of the round at the par-3 seventh. She hit a 198-yard approach to 5 feet to set up her final birdie and will tee off in today’s morning wave at 5:17 a.m.

“I think just growing up in Hawaii, just being along the ocean a lot definitely helps,” Corpuz said. “And then (Pebble Beach) is actually really similar to a course we played in college (at USC), Trump National (in Palos Verdes, Calif.). It’s along the ocean, Poa (annua) greens. Yeah, feeling pretty comfortable out here.”

It was a forgettable start for Jin Young Ko, whose 79 was her worst U.S. Women’s Open score by four shots. And she had company. The top four players in the women’s world ranking combined to go 22 over par, with Nelly Korda and Lydia Ko at 76 and Lilia Vu at 79.

Rose Zhang, the 20-year-old Stanford sensation who won in her pro debut last month, wasted a good start with a double bogey on the eighth hole that slowed her momentum. She played the final 10 holes in 2 over for a 74.

“I felt like the game in general was pretty solid. It was just the mishap on 8 that kind of turned my entire round a little bit,” Zhang said.

She didn’t make a birdie the rest of the way, and had to chip on her last four holes — one of them from the wrong side of the green on the par-3 17th just as Gary Woodland did in 2019 when he won the U.S. Open. She nearly holed it, a perfectly clipped wedge she had never tried in competition.

“Always something new,” Zhang said with a laugh.

Lin began her round on the tough par-4 10th hole, and she saved par on four of her opening five holes before holing an 8-foot birdie putt on the 15th. The Chinese player’s lone bogey came at the end when she failed to get up-and-down from short of a bunker on No. 9.

“At the beginning, putting definitely save me,” said Lin, who took only 25 putts and was leading the field in the key putting statistic. “Making those short putts really kind of boosted my confidence, making me feel more comfortable to attack when I needed to.”

Kim, whose lone major was the Evian Championship in 2014, was 4 under through eight holes until her lone bogey at No. 9. She made only one birdie the rest of the day, holing a 20-footer on the 17th that allowed her to catch Lin.

She was happy with her score and the location.