Catching the end of the morning groups' rounds on Japanese tv, although couldn't quite bring myself to wake up at 5 am for its start. The caption is "Go Oyama!" and for a reason: with birdies on 9 and 10, she's back to -2 to Friday's round and -3 on the day, tied for second in the tournament. Mi Hyun Kim and Paula Creamer are getting lots of airtime as well--and both are hovering around par. More after breakfast!
[Update 1 (6:44 am): Ah, a quick look at the leaderboard leads me to believe I'm going to see some ugly golf as the course toughens up on the back. Wonder if the weather delay will end before the Japanese feed does (at 8 am here). Very happy for Moira Dunn, who looks like she can think about contending this weekend. Glad to see Juli Inkster playing well (-1 through 16 and +6 for the tournament) and Jee Young Lee recovering well from her triple that started the golf today (E is good enough for T8 right now). But Inkster, Sorenstam, and Davies are going to need some help from the afternoon groups to keep playing on the weekend, it looks like. With about 90 golfers at +6 or better, many in the afternoon will have to wilt for them to make the cut.]
[Update 2 (4:10 pm): Well, that was my shortest not-quite-live-blogging ever--or at least my fewest updates. How naive I was when I was half asleep, talking about a weather delay ending. Hah! In any case, I'm back from my talk (which went well, thank you), and can at least throw in a few links to the USGA site's interviews, headlines, blog to tide you over while you wait for the Friday round to begin again so it can finish on Saturday afternoon. Enjoy.]
[Update 3 (4:38 pm): OK, can't resist a few comments. How about Hye Jung Choi's 68? She joins fellow Super Sophs Kyeong Bae and Seon Hwa Lee at +3, which is only tied for 39th now but I suspect will be top 25 after the second round is said and done. Lee has some easier holes coming up, too, before she finishes the front, so the 2006 Rookie of the Year might just find herself in the top 15. Another Super Soph, Jee Young Lee, has the 8th and 9th to go, which gives her much better odds than Shiho Oyama on the last two holes of the back Saturday morning to finish her second round under par for the tournament (both were -2 at one point but fell back to E). Even struggling Super Soph Teresa Lu got in the act today, playing well enough keep it to +5 for the tournament, most likely good enough to make the cut after the afternoon rounds are done--which is good news for Davies and Sorenstam, who are also at +5 (T74 now). If a lot of people do really really badly, yet another Super Soph might be playing on the weekend--Sun Young Yoo (+7, T89 right now). Same can't be said for Brittany Lang, who at +18 is in danger of getting beaten by Michelle Wie!
OK, enough about the Super Sophs. It's nice to see Jeong Jang and Angela Stanford up there at +1 (T16)--both have been playing better of late and their games are well suited for U.S. Opens. Wonder if In-Bee Park is ready to join fellow rookies Angela Park, Na On Min, and In-Kyung Kim and show that she's ready to contend on a weekend. Wonder if Birdie Kim will be around on the Sunday back 9 again. Wonder if the weather will hold up tomorrow so those actually trying to live-blog Friday's Saturday round can follow my advice.]
[Update 4 (4:58 pm): Here's a favorite moment from Friday's interviews:
RHONDA GLENN: Why are the Korean players so good?
IN-BEE PARK: I'm really getting tired of that question, because everybody asks me that question. I don't know. I guess they work really hard. I don't know, maybe it's in their blood.
She makes a great joke and Glenn completely misses it. Yeesh.]
[Update 5 (9:55 pm): Let's reset this. Before you head off to a second attempt at this not-quite-live-blogging thing, I'll mention here that Seon Hwa Lee indeed squandered her chance to pull ahead of Kyeong Bae and Hye Jung Choi (they're all at +3), that Mi Hyun Kim and Paula Creamer free-fell all the way back to +4, that veterans Annika Sorenstam, Laura Davies, and Sherri Steinhauer will be joining Teresa Lu in hoping that +5 is good enough to make the cut, that Juli Inkster and Sun Young Yoo (at +7) have to hope that the 10-shot rule saves them, and that Brittany Lang plummeted all the way back to +20 (what is up with her this season, anyway?!).]
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