Just look at that leaderboard and savor what the 2008 SBS Open is becoming! Consider what it takes to get near the top of it, how lucky the folks at +3 were to stay in it, and how up for grabs not just the title is, but also who will end up in the top 10 and top 20.
But first, let's have a moment of silence: for my friend Moira Dunn, who ended up missing the cut by one stroke, despite a final-hole birdie on the 9th yesterday; for Eun-Hee Ji, who was an excellent wind player in 2007 but whose final-hole double bogey on the 9th dropped her two shots below the cut line; for free-falling-Friday rookies Shanshan Feng, Carolina Llano, and Violeta Retamoza (welcome to the LPGA! please fasten your seatbelts!); and for Ai Miyazato, Jennifer Rosales, Grace Park, and Carin Koch, whose nightmares continue.
OK, as onechan would say, "too many shikaku [squares]! I want to see maru [circles]!" (She actually made me navigate away from the PGATour.com Northern Trust Open leaderboard, b/c seeing so much orange on the guys' scorecards disturbed her. Sorry, guys, but she thinks you're stinky!) So let's turn to the big movers up the leaderboard:
Angela Park, 75-65 (-4, T88-->T8)
Nancy Scranton, 75-68 (-1, T88-->T26)
Sophie Gustafson and Kate Golden, 75-69 (E, T88-->T37)
Seon Hwa Lee and Monday qualifier Allison Hanna-Williams, 74-68 (-2, T65-->T17)
Suzann Pettersen and Maria Hjorth, 74-69 (-1, T65-->T26)
Na On Min, 73-67 (-4, T44-->T8)
Jeong Jang, 72-69 (-3, T35-->T15)
Momoko Ueda, 71-67 (-6, T23-->T3)
Young Kim and Jimin Kang, 73-70 (-1, T44-->T26)
Hee-Won Han and Pat Hurst, 72-70 (-2, T35-->T17)
Ji-Yai Shin and Russy Gulyanamitta, 71-69 (-4, T23-->T8)
Annika Sorenstam, 70-67 (-7, T10-->T1)
Laura Diaz and Jane Park, 70-68 (-6, T10-->T3)
Those are some fine moves by some big names (and I'm not even including the charges by so many, lead by Kyeong Bae, to make the cut). But let's also give credit where credit is due and celebrate the consistency of Erica Blasberg (69-68, -7, T1), Cristie Kerr (69-69, -6, T3), Lindsey Wright (69-70, -5, 7th), and In-Kyung Kim (70-70, -4, T8). And really, anyone among the 36 players under par can wake up with the dream of dropping a low-60s round on the field and putting pressure on the leaders. Realistically speaking, though, the winner is likely to come from the 14 people within 3 shots of Annika. Of course, if she picks up where she left off Friday (a tidy 31 on the back)--or even gets off the one-double bogey-per-round kick she's been on--this thing could be over fast.
Looking at the final round's pairings, this is going to be a Saturday to remember!
[Update: Check out Hound Dog's second-round overview and then watch the videos he posted from it, too. Thanks, HD!]
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