Thursday, April 4, 2013

Kraft Nabisco Championship Thursday: Choi and Pettersen on Another Planet

While most players at the Kraft Nabisco Championship today were struggling to hit greens in regulation and avoid bogeys (or worse) on a challenging Mission Hills set-up, 1st-round co-leaders Na Yeon Choi and Suzann Pettersen were putting on a clinic, with 0 bogeys, 8 birdies, and 30 greens hit between them. 

Jodi Ewart Shadoff and Jane Park had good chances to overshadow them in the late afternoon, as Ewart Shadoff was -5 after 14 holes and Park was -4 after 10, but a late bogey from the Englishwoman and two bogeys down the home stretch from the Californian ended those hopes.  Still, Ewart Shadoff has to be thrilled to be tied with 2 of the best golfers on tour, 1 shot ahead of Amy Yang and Anna Nordqvist.  And Park can take solace in the fact that Jessica Korda also shot a 70, but did so with 6 birdies and 2 doubles, while Lizette Salas took the bogey-free route to the same score, and they're tied with the likes of Ji-Yai Shin, Inbee Park, and Angela Stanford--and young'uns Moriya Jutanugarn and Jacqui Concolino--only 2 shots off the lead.

We saw all kinds of rounds out there:  Ya Ni Tseng made a pair of birdies and a pair of bogeys to open with a 72, while it was 4 and 4 for Hee Kyung Seo; Stacy Lewis bounced back from an early triple to salvage a 73; In-Kyung Kim doubled the 9th, her final hole, to settle for a 75; Beatriz Recari couldn't buy a birdie and suffered 3 bogeys over a 5-hole stretch in the middle of her round for the same result as her Kia playoff victim; former KNC winners Brittany Lincicome and Sun Young Yoo both opened with 77s, while slumping stars Michelle Wie and Morgan Pressel turned in surprising 72s; Louise Friberg opened with a stunning 71, while Brittany Lang shot an 80 and Shanshan Feng a 78; Ayako Uehara was the low Japanese golfer and Camilla Hedberg the low Spanish golfer with 72s.

Yes, golf is amazing and weird.  What was your biggest surprise of the LPGA's 1st major's opening day?

1 comment:

Vernon V said...

Definitely Friberg. I did a double-take when I saw her name.