SYDNEY - A 12-year-old Sydney girl took part in the first round of the New South Wales Women's Golf Open in Australia on Friday.

Belinda Ji would normally have been at school, but the talented golfer was instead getting a taste of the big league of the sport.

"It's my first big tournament so I'm excited but nervous as well," Ji told News Corporation.

"It's a different environment to anything I've been in before and I'm playing against the pros for the first time."

Last month New Zealander Lydia Ko became the youngest ever world No 1, male or female, at just 17.

Ji is following in Ko's footsteps at the same Oatlands course in Sydney where the New Zealand girl won the event in 2012 as a 14- year-old.