It's clear from the numbers alone of the people who went off early today that the Old Course at St. Andrews is showing its teeth this Saturday at the Women's British Open. With 12 players who have failed to break 80 or are about to and only 1 under par out of everyone who's already completed their third round--Stacy Prammanasudh, whose 72 gets her to +3 for the tournament, good enough for T20 right now--the only question remaining is how big a moving backward day will it be for the 19 players ahead of our leader in the clubhouse. Will the carnage be intense enough that Prammanasudh, with a little luck, could play herself into contention on the back 9 on Sunday? Will it be even worse, keeping the hopes of +5ers like Karrie Webb and Jimin Kang alive? How many of the golfers already playing well this week will stand up to Open weekend pressure on top of the tougher scoring conditions? We'll find out soon. As of this writing, there are only 8 people still under par--although the leader Lorena Ochoa has gotten back to -7, and if she stays there all these questions are moot. Here's hoping Japanese tv doesn't only focus on the struggles of Momoko Ueda (79, +9, T50), Ai Miyazato (77, +8, T45), Miki Saiki (+2 through 8, +2, T17), and Yuri Fudoh (+2 through 4, -1, T6) and covers it like an actual tournament.
[Update 1 (10:32 pm): Ochoa's now at -8, so this may be moot, but there are now only 17 people ahead of Prammanasudh, 5 under par, and 14 rounds that are or will be in the 80s for sure. Maria Hjorth, at +2 with two possible birdie holes ahead of her (under normal conditions, that is), has the best chance to finish ahead of Prammanasudh. We'll see how tough Se Ri Pak is--she's E through 10 (on the round and the tournament and T6--or she was, until she bogeyed the tough par-3 11th!]
[Update 2 (10:48 pm): Ah, Dave Allen at Golf for Women was onto the state of the weather early. Now there are 4 under par, Paula Creamer shot a fantastic 74 in these conditions to tie Prammanasudh as leader in the clubhouse at +3 (currently T16), Maria Hjorth birdied 17 to get to +1 on the tournament (and -1 for her round), and now there's a good chance for 19 rounds in the 80s. But Ochoa is still -8.]
[Update 3 (11:08 pm): Hjorth matched Prammanasudh's 72 to remain 2 shots ahead of her. Now the interesting question is how many behind Ochoa will Hjorth be heading into Sunday's round? And how many people will be E or better for the tournament after 3 rounds? Now there are 6, but they have only just begun the tougher middle 9 of the course.]
[Update 4 (11:20 pm): Brittany Lincicome joins Creamer and Prammanasudh at +3 (now back to T16), with only Reilley Rankin (+2, T11) between them and Hjorth at +1 (now T5!).]
[Update 5 (11:33 pm): Well, well, well, Super Soph in Waiting Linda Wessberg just birdied 18 to shoot the third 72 of the third round and finish at E (T4). So we know there will be at least 1 player between Hjorth (now T6) and Ochoa heading into Sunday. Right now, Wessberg is 7 behind Ochoa, while Rankin is T10 and the +3 group is T14.]
[Update 6 (11:45 pm): Wessberg, by the way, was in a similar position last week, heading into the Evian Masters's final round at E, 6 shots behind the leader. She shot an 80 that Sunday. We'll see tomorrow how much she learned from that experience. In another aside, we could have as many as 21 rounds in the 80s today.]
[Update 7 (11:59 pm): How great is Lorena Ochoa playing today? She's -2 through 12 and has a 6-shot lead on Wendy Ward, the only other person in the tournament under par. If she can get through the tough 13th and 16th, she actually has a chance to break 70 today! Se Ri Pak ballooned to +3 but now has the birdie-able 17th and 18th left to play. Hopefully she can come close to Hjorth or Wessberg with a strong finish!]
[Update 8 (8/5/07, 12:08 am): Pak could only tie Rankin at +2, unfortunately. Now it's Jee Young Lee's turn to make a move on her closing 2 holes. I'm off to watch the TV Asahi coverage.]
[Update 9 (8/5/07, 2:05 am): They switched the start time of the coverage on me, so I could only catch the last 6 holes of Ochoa's group (and of course a lot of Fudoh). All I can say is Ochoa seemed too loose to me--not only did she bogey 13 and 16, she had legitimate birdie chances on every single other hole, as well--and made nothing. Still, she takes a 6-shot lead on Wessberg, a 7-shot lead on Hjorth, Lee, Karine Icher, and Annika Sorenstam, an 8-shot lead on Rankin, Pak. Eun-Hee Ji, Catriona Matthew, and Wendy Ward, and a 9-shot lead on Prammanasudh, Creamer, Lincicome, and Na On Min into Sunday's round. It's her major to win--or lose.
By the way, there ended up being 26 rounds in the 80s on Moving Backwards Day at the Old Course. Wow.]
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