An amazing eagle putt sparked Karrie Webb to a five-under-par 67 which put her within one shot of the lead after the first round of the Women's Australian Open at Royal Sydney.

Webb is not known for starting tournaments well, and she came to the first tee feeling nervous and uncertain about her first competitive round in two months.

"I was pretty uptight," she said. "I just all of a sudden realised that it was the first tournament round of the year and I was thinking: I don't know if I'm ready for this."

But the cobwebs soon disappeared when she somehow curled in a roller-coaster 22-metre put for an eagle at the par-five second.

After hitting her drive 265 metres (and still finding herself 20 metres behind the prodigiously long world matchplay champion Brittany Lincicome), Webb slammed a fairway metal to the left side of the large, offset green.

Between her and the hole were two large humps with a left-to-right break of perhaps five metres off the second of them.

Webb turned to her caddie Mike Paterson and said: "You have to give me fifty bucks if I get this within five feet."

The ball climbed the second mound and almost came to a stop before gravity took it down the slope towards the hole.

It kept going and going, and when it fell into the cup Webb looked more embarrassed than anything else.

She also made eagle at the par-five 16th from five metres and might have shared the lead if her four-metre putt for birdie at the last - her approach hit the flag - had dropped.

"If you don't play a tournament for a couple of months you wonder if you've still got it," Webb said.

"Obviously the bomb that I made on the second settled me down. I only missed two or three greens today.

"Considering how I felt this morning ... it was good to get that feel back. On the back nine my mental work was really good and I was able to swing a bit freer and trust things."

Webb will have the advantage of an early tee time on Friday when the harbourside course is usually at its most benign.

It will give her a chance of putting together a score before overnight leader Sarah Kemp has hit off.

Kemp, reckoned to be a possible successor to Webb, carded a bogey-free 66 to open a one-shot lead over Webb and Japanese-based Australian Nikki Campbell (67).

"My goal going into most tournaments is to be in the last group (on Sunday)," Kemp said.

"One, I'd be in some sort of contention and two, there's heaps of people watching and I kind of like to show off."

Campbell provided the early fireworks when she had five birdies and an eagle on her opening nine holes (the back nine) to reach the turn in 29.

But she did not make another birdie, and after a couple of bogeys had to settle for a 67.

Taiwanese Yun-Jei Wei is alone in third place on 68, with Korean-born Queenslander Amy Yang, winner of last year's Ladies Masters, in a group of three on 69.

American glamour girl Natalie Gulbis shot a two-over par 74 and is anxious to do better on Friday to justify her appearance money.

Defending champion Laura Davies of England shot 73 while 14-year-old Japanese schoolgirl Miho Mori was a bit overwhelmed by the occasion and shot 83.

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