Back to the LPGA: Sybase Classic Edition

So here are the pairings for Thursday's round at the JAL Big Apple Sybase Classic at the Upper Montclair Country Club in Clifton, NJ (which happens to be off my favorite highway, Route 80, and not far from my favorite NYC-satellite town, Fort Lee, but those are different stories). This is as close to Meaghan Francella territory as the tour gets this year, I believe, and next week is Moira Dunn territory at the LPGA Corning Classic. Francella has a prime-time next-to-last pairing of the morning with Jee Young Lee and Laura Davies at the 10th tee, as does Moira, who starts on the front with Catriona Matthew and Helen Alfredsson. But check out the 8:32 to 8:54 groups on the back--which would you follow, Pressel-Pettersen-(defending champion) Ochoa, Granada-Lincicome-Webb, or Gulbis-Inkster-Pak? With Miyazato, Creamer, Ahn, Kerr, and Prammanasudh not in the field this week (don't worry, the first three are expected to play next week), there's going to be more room in the top 20, so it'll be interesting to see who joins the folks I've mentioned (yes, I'm predicting Moira gets her game back and Francella returns to early-season form)--there are plenty of Super Sophs who have showed potential this season and a host of Koreans whose games look like they are starting to get into shape going off in the afternoon who all could find themselves in the mix on Sunday.

Here are the pre-tournament interviews--now let's drop the pretense that I was able to stay up late enough to post the previous paragraph before the round started and go straight to the leaderboard. Amazingly, very few of the people I named above failed to get under par; unfortunately, Jee Young Lee withdrew (?!), Julieta Granada and Moira Dunn joined Mi Hyun Kim and Jimin Kang at 74 (T92 now) and Suzann Pettersen and Helen Alfredsson could only do one better (T65). But let's focus on the positives, 100-Yen Nishijin Mostly Harmless Crystal Ball-wise: Inkster, Webb, and Pressel at 71 (T24 now), Gulbis at 70 (T13), Francella and Matthew at 69 (T7), and Ochoa, Pak, and Lincicome leaders in the clubhouse at 68. For me, that's some good predictin'. With only Sarah Lee, who's got 5 birdies and no bogeys through 12 holes, ahead of the best morning players, it looks like everyone I named has a good shot at a top 20 (which is what it would actually take to make my prediction come true). But with Super Sophs like Seon Hwa Lee (-2 through 11 after a birdie-birdie-double bogey-bogey-birdie-birdie-birdie start!), Hye Jung Choi (-2 after making her first bogey of the day on the 11th), Teresa Lu (-1 through 9), and Linda Wessberg (-1 through 6) playing well in the afternoon, it will still be a challenge. Not to mention rookies like Angela Park (a bogey-free 68), Jane Park (69), In-Kyung Kim (only a 70 after twice getting to -3 on the front, her second 9, once after making an eagle), and Charlotte Mayorkas (71). With the Sybase at a new course this year, the playing field for the rookies is a bit more levelled than usual. Hopefully the afternoon-starting rookies will recover from shaky starts and make like leader of that pack In-Bee Park, who is 2-under through her first 8 holes on the back (with great birdie opportunities coming up early on the front).

It's also nice to see Meredith Ward, a soph I suggested last month was "not yet super," with a good chance to make the cut and even contend after her 71 today (she has "non-exempt" status this year, which means she has to make every LPGA event she gets into count). I also like seeing Brittany Lang and Reilley Rankin's names higher up on the leaderboard early in a tournament--and hope they go against form of late and stay there by the end. It appears Kyeong Bae's injury may be more serious than she thought, as she shot a 42 39 on the front (LPGA historians--is this her worst nine ever as a professional?) [sorry, software glitch!--she's actually fought back to +2 as of 5:00 am!--TC]. I hope she doesn't hurt herself worse trying to gut out the round.

So once again the LPGA is full of interesting stories.

[Update 1 (4:37 am): Got a chance to look at more scorecards--they definitely show why this tournament will be interesting. As several players pointed out in interviews, the course can give up birdies if you drive the ball accurately, but if you get in the trees, anything can happen. Tell Lorena Ochoa, who made seven birdies but offset them with an early double and a late bogey. Or Brittany Lincicome, who started off the back birdie-eagle-double bogey-par-bogey and followed up another bogey early on the front with two birdies and another eagle. Or Se Ri Pak, who started off the back going bogey-eagle-double bogey but made 5 birdies in her final 10 holes. Or Catriona Matthew, who doubled her first holes but then played bogey-free golf the rest of the round and made 5 birdies. And Meaghan Francella birdied 5 of her first 12 holes, but stumbled into three bogeys (and one birdie) as she tried to close the deal on the front. You get the picture!]

[Update 2 (5:06 am): Apologies to Super Soph in Waiting Sun Young Yoo, who I failed to mention is at -3 through 13 and trailing only Sarah Lee in the afternoon pack. Good luck to former Rookie of the Year Dorothy Delasin, who's been playing well of late and is under par with 6 holes left to play on the front. And congrats to current rookies Il Mi Chung, who rattled off four consecutive birdies on the front, and Paige Mackenzie, who shot a 34 on the front despite averaging only 193 yards off the tee and hitting fewer than half her fairways, anyway, to join Park at -2 thus far. We'll see how they all end up when I wake up!]

[Update 3 (8:09 am): As you can see from the Round 1 leaderboard, only Sarah Lee's 66 surpassed and Hye Jung Choi's 68 matched the best scores from the morning round. Meena Lee (yes!) and In-Bee Park were some of the afternoon notables who joined the 22 people at 70 or better (good enough to be in the top 10!). And Seon Hwa Lee (yes!), Jeong Jang (yes!), Sun Young Yoo, and Na On Min joined the 39 people under par for the tournament. So we're talking a cut line somewhere between E and +3 tomorrow, depending on the weather, and the leaders well within reach of a fantastic second round from anyone within a few strokes of par today.]

[Update the last the next-to-last (8:33 am): Here's the link to the first-round interviews--haven't read them yet, and have to take onechan to her yochien, so won't for awhile. If you need a Sybase fix while I'm gone, check out Hound Dog's blog (over on our blogroll--no time to link!).]

[Update the last--really! (10:38 am): For our Great Moments in LPGA Interviewing files: "Q. Were you born in Brazil?/ ANGELA PARK: Yes./ Q. Can you explain how that happened?/ ANGELA PARK: How that happened? Well, it happened before I was born, so I wouldn't be able to tell you how that happened really. But, I don't know, my parents have moved to Brazil from Korea and all of my brothers were born there, I don't know how it exactly happened./ Q. Did you grow up there?
ANGELA PARK: All of my family members are still there, a lot of my grandma and my grandpa, they are still there. But I lived there until I was eight and then I moved to California so I kind of grew up there and kind of grew up here, too./ Q. Do you speak Brazilian?/ ANGELA PARK: Portuguese? Just a little bit. I can get myself around." If you read down a little further, Meaghan Francella deals with stupid questions with humor, too.]