Friday, May 23, 2008

Bridgestone Ladies Open Friday: It's Crowded at the Top

The first round of the Chukyo TV Bridgestone Ladies Open is complete and the leaderboard is full of big names and hot hands, all of them chasing Yukari Baba and Michiko Hattori at -4. Shiho Oyama would be right with them but for a late double bogey on a birdieable par 5.

T1/-4 Baba, Hattori (68)
T2/-3 Hyun-Ju Shin, Hiromi Mogi, Ayako Uehara, Ikuyo Shiotani (69)
T7/-2 Oyama, Ji-Yeon Han (70)
T9/-1 Sakura Yomomine, Miki Saiki, Miho Koga, Ji-Hee Lee, Akane Iijima, Midori Yoneyama, plus 6 others (71)

Notables include:

T22/E Chie Arimura, Mie Nakata, Kaori Higo (72)
T30/+1 Bo-Bae Song, Erina Hara (73)
T45/+2 Mi-Jeong Jeon, Yui Kawahara (74)
T61/+3 Yuko Mitsuka (75)
T69/+4 Na Zhang, Yun-Jye Wei (76)
T80/+5 Hiroko Yamaguchi (77)

Higo, by the way, finished eagle-par-birdie to offset bogeys on the 3 previous holes, while Song managed 2 birdies in her final 3 holes to almost make up for her 3 consective bogeys as she made the turn.

Who will be the first player to win twice on the JLPGA this season? Baba shot the only bogey-free round in the field, but Uehara, Ohyama, Hattori, and Shiotani made the most birdies of the day. Me, I'm waiting for Yokomine, Saiki, and Koga to get hot. I want them all playing so well in 2008 they consider joining Ai Miyazato and Momoko Ueda on the LPGA in 2009!

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