Ai-chan the Leader in the Clubhouse at the SemGroup Championship: Mostly Harmless Crystal Ball to Be Vindicated?

Well, well, well. Ai Miyazato is going to have to see how costly her mistake on 18--her only bogey of her round after reeling off three birdies on the back 9--which dropped her to -2 on the day and for the tournament will end up being. She's still the leader in the clubhouse, but she has two tough veterans, Juli Inkster and Mi Hyun Kim, one shot ahead of her. Inkster fired a 33 on the front to get to 4-under but has since bogeyed the 14th; she has two holes left to play, both of them treacherous. Kim just birdied 11 to get back to E on the day and -3 for the tournament, but she has three tough holes to go. There are still a lot of people within shouting distance of -2, too, including three already there. Katherine Hull just bogeyed the 14th to fall back to E on the day and -2 for the tournament, while Angela Stanford has been hanging tough at +1 on the day and -2 for the tournament after sandwiching a triple between a pair of early birdies; both have three holes to play. Fourth alternate Stephanie Louden opened with 4 early bogeys, but just birdied the 14th to get back to +2 for the round and -2 for the tournament and is the only one in the final group with a chance to win. Among those chasing the leaders are just the world #1 Lorena Ochoa, who's birdied two of her last three holes to get back to E on the day and -1 for the tournament, and Young Kim, owner of the second-lowest round of the tournament, a 68 yesterday, who needs to birdie 18 to recover from her costly double on the 14th and tie Miyazato.

Stay tuned!

[Update 1 (3:21 am): Young Kim could not birdie the tough 18th; she takes 2nd in the clubhouse away from Paula Creamer, whose 70 today included 5 birdies and four bogeys, two of each comng in her last five holes. Then there were 6.]

[Update 2 (3:27 am): Perhaps I spoke too soon, overwhelmed by all the + signs on the day's round for the large group still at E for the tournament with several holes yet to play: Se Ri Pak, Nicole Castrale, and Reilley Rankin, but the latter two have been making costly bogeys in recent holes and the former failed to birdie the only par-5 in the home stretch, so maybe I didn't speak--or write--too soon. In fact, Inkster just bogeyed 17 to fall back into a tie with Miyazato. I don't need to tel you how tough 18 has been playing this day and this tournament, either.]

[Update 3 (3:30 am): Ochoa needs to birdie 18 to have a chance to be in a playoff. If anyone can do it, she can--and with all her on-course heartbreak in recent weeks, I'm rooting for her to do it. The idea of a Kim-Inkster-Ochoa-Miyazato playoff, would, I think, appeal to many long-time LPGA fans and steal eyeballs away from Tiger & Co.]

[Update 4 (3:35 am): Speaking of which, here's the Wachovia leader board. Phil is not making an early run, so it's looking increasingly like it's going to come down to Tiger or Rory or Vijay, oh my! Steve Stricker and Anthony Kim are playing well enough today to stay in the mix if the leaders don't pull away, though.]

[Update 5 (3:36 am): Sorry, I just dozed off. Who put that PGA update there? Mi Hyun Kim just birdied 16 to go to -4 and take a two-shot lead into her final two holes!!]

[Update 6 (3:43 am): Dammit, Inkster birdied 18 to get to -3 and take the chance of a dream playoff away from me her first LPGA win away from Ai-chan. Lorena couldn't, so ends up T6. Hull will need to birdie 18 to make up for her bogey on 16 that dropped her back to -1 if she wants to be able to tell her grandchildren some day that she finished ahead of the world #1 in a tournament.]

[Update 7 (3:47 am): With a bogey on 16, Louden joins the growing group now T5 at -1. Here's hoping she stays in the top 10 before her day is done.]

[Update 8 (7:22 am): Well, google just unbanned me--apparently too many updates in a row triggers their virus software that bounces you from their system for a few hours. So I only missed the chance to report that even though she bogeyed the 18th to fall back in a tie with Inkster, Mi Hyun Kim won the playoff, showing that you didn't need to be one of the big hitters to win this tournament (despite my prediction, only two of the people under par averaged over 250 yards off the tee!). Oh, and I also had to wait until now to mention that I got to watch Karrie Webb finish third in Tokyo this week, beaten out for second by my new crush fave, Momoko Ueda. Just kidding, Ai-chan, you're still my favorite golfer!]

[Update 9 (12:04 pm): Congrats to Mi Hyun and Tiger! But why did Tiger make about 5x what Mi Hyun did for his win?]