BETHLEHEM, Pa. -- In a tournament where Michele Wie and calendar-girl Natalie Gulbis are noticeably absent, amid a contentious environment pitting many of the top players against the LPGA Tour commissioner, the 64th U.S. Women's Open got exactly what it desperately needed in the first round: The tour's top players on the leader board.

OK, well not all of them.

South Korea's Na Yeon Choi, who has yet to win in two seasons on the LPGA Tour, birdied four of her first five holes and shot 3-under 68 yesterday to take the first-round lead at the Old Course at Saucon Valley Country Club, a rare fast start in a round when only five players bettered par.

But she seems like nothing more than an afterthought, perhaps because two of the players right behind her are Lorena Ochoa, the No. 1 female player in the world, and former Open champion Cristie Kerr.

"This tournament has a knack of bringing the top players up to the leader board," said Kerr, who made only one bogey in a round of 69 that left her a shot from the lead. "I think we're seeing that."

Kerr, the 2007 U.S. Women's Open champion, is tied with Ochoa, who is seeking her first Open title, and Futures Tour player Jean Reynolds, who is appearing in her second U.S. Open.

Even America's glamour girl, Paula Creamer, was lurking near the top, ignoring the problems with her left thumb to birdie two of the final six holes and shoot 72.

"Anything in the red numbers to start a U.S. Open, I will take it," said Ochoa.

Especially when the fraternity of players under par is smaller than a Bernie Madoff support group.

The only other player to post a sub-par score was Korea's Hee Young Park, another non-winner in two LPGA Tour seasons, who shot 71 despite a double bogey at the par-3 17th. The stroke average for the first round was 76.454.

"I think I hit the ball good, but more important I had the right speed on the greens," Ochoa said. "That helped me a lot. So, you know, one round down, three to go."

Ochoa's presence on the leader board was a panacea for the tour, and for the tournament, but it was also a good boost for her.

Despite her world ranking, and despite posting two victories in 2009, she has struggled with her game -- relatively speaking, of course. Following a year in which she posted seven victories and vaulted to the top spot, Ochoa has finished out of the top 10 in four of her past seven starts.

But, she posted four consecutive rounds in the 60s in the Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic last week in Sylvania, Ohio, where she finished eighth. And she was off to a solid start yesterday when most of the 155-player field struggled with the speed and firmness of the greens.

"You know, this course is just a lot of feel," Ochoa said. "Some of them, you're going to need to tie them in and just play high and soft. I like it that I have good imagination. I'm going to keep things simple and I'm going to continue that."

Kerr made only one bogey in her round and that was at the par-4 seventh, which, at 453 yards, played as one of the most difficult holes of the day. Only 15.7 percent of the field hit the green in regulation, though Mike Davis, the USGA's senior director of rules and competition, said a front-pin location likely caused players to deliberately play short of the green.

"You know, the greens are really firm," Kerr said. "I think maybe people thought they would be a little softer, but they're really not, unless you have a sand wedge. And, still, the birdie I made on [No.] 6, I had a sand wedge and it released 6 or 7 yards with a sand wedge. So the course is playing kind of firm and fast."

Then she added, "I'm an Open champion. I kind of knew what to expect."

Nobody knew what to expect of Creamer, America's top player, not even Creamer herself. She has played once since she finished 16th in the LPGA Championship, and that was when she withdrew after the first round of the Wegman's LPGA Classic because of her injured left thumb.

Despite getting two cortisone shots to reduce the pain, Creamer can only hit balls before a round and cannot practice afterward because of her thumb. But, playing without pain yesterday, she birdied two of her final six holes after a double bogey at No. 3, her 12th hole.

"It's a tough, great golf course, and pars are not going to kill you," Creamer said. "You just have to hang on, and that's all I told myself."