For a long time, Lorena Ochoa and Sophie Gustafson were playing superlative golf in Portland at the Safeway Classic--Ochoa went on a 13-hole tear over two rounds in which she made 9 birdies, while Gustafson was -5 through her first 12 holes on Saturday--but they both came down to earth a little on the back 9 on Saturday, Ochoa with bogeys on the final two holes to fall back to -11 and Gustafson with a missed eagle chance and a missed par putt over her final 7 holes to drop to -10. So the door is open a sliver for rookie Ji-Young Oh (71) and Mhairi McKay (67) at -7 to keep the final round from being a match-play affair, while Natalie Gulbis (68) and Diana D'Alessio (69) at -5 have to shoot career rounds to have a hope of contending.
But the race for the win is not the only race worth watching on Sunday. Julieta Granada (69, -1, T20) has a great chance to become the first Super Soph to pass the $2M mark in career earnings (just as she was the first to break the $1M barrier)--her closest competitor, Seon Hwa Lee (73, +4, T70), was lucky to make the cut--not to mention extend her lead on Shi Hyun Ahn (67, -4, T7) and Meena Lee (72, +1, T40) on the career money list. And with Se Ri Pak (74, +2, T55) struggling, the Mostly Harmless crystal ball still has a chance to earn its 100-yen price on the $10M question I raised here and at Waggle Room.
The race for the top Super Soph of the week is also wide open. Playing in Seon Hwa Lee's group, Morgan Pressel showed why she is the #1 Super Soph--her 68 pulled her into a tie at -1 (T20) with two Super Sophs who have showed signs recently of breaking their sophomore jinxes, Granada and Brittany Lang. Whether fellow Super Sophs Katie Futcher (70, -2, T17) and Minea Blomqvist (70, -4, T7) will be able to stay ahead of these big names and avoid the fates of Na Ri Kim (72, +3, T63), Kyeong Bae (76, +2, T55), Hye Jung Choi (74, +1, T40), and Sun Young Yoo (72, +1, T40) is a very interesting question to me. It's only a matter of time before Bae, Choi, or Yoo breaks through to the next level, but it doesn't look like it's going to happen this week.
Speaking of breaking through, it will also be interesting to see if D'Alessio and Lindsey Wright (70, -4, T7) can put together strong final rounds. They've been hanging around the top of the leaderboard in many tournaments this year, but have had some trouble closing the deal on the weekend. But the biggest question of the week is who will break onto the Solheim Cup squad for the U.S. as a captain's pick. With Nicole Castrale (71, +4, T70) not doing much since her defeat of Lorena Ochoa at the Ginn Tribute in early June, Lang beginning to find her game again over the same stretch, and Laura Diaz (69, -4, T7) and Christina Kim (71, -4, T7) playing some fantastic golf in late summer, captain Betsy King has a tough choice ahead of her. Hound Dog and I think she should pick Diaz and Kim and lately Mulligan Stu has been rethinking his position that Castrale is a lock. So we'll see how closely the LPGA blogosphere mirrors King's thinking soon.
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