From the first group off the first tee, Karen Stupples (whose 11-month-old son is fighting an ear infection) fired the low round of the day Thursday at the Kraft Nabisco Championship, a bogey-free 67. For awhile, it looked as if Lorena Ochoa was going to leave the leader in the clubhouse in the dust--she was -5 through her first 12 holes--but 5 pars and a bogey on the par-3 8th later, the world #1 trailed one of her closest statistical competitors in 2008 (#2 in birdies per round and putts per green in regulation, #3 in scoring average and percentage of rounds under par) by 1 shot. Meanwhile, slumping Okinawan sensation Ai Miyazato hit 15 greens in regulation as she rattled off 7 birdies to join Ochoa in second place. Only two other players, Natalie Gulbis (despite hitting only 9 greens in regulation) and Heather Young (who eagled the 11th), managed to break 70 on a day when many of the world's best struggled mightily.
53 players--more than half the field--failed to break 75 on Thursday, including such luminaries, rising stars, and (previously) hot hands as Amy Alcott and Laura Diaz (79, T102), Eun-Hee Ji and Sherri Steinhauer (78, T95), Catriona Matthew, Stacy Prammanasudh, Christina Kim, Angela Park, In-Kyung Kim, and Ji-Young Oh (77, T84), Karrie Webb, Laura Davies, Rachel Hetherington, Grace Park, Sakura Yokomine, and Louise Friberg (76, T67), and Angela Stanford, Brittany Lincicome, and Minea Blomqvist (75, T56)--Davies thanks to a 10 on the par-5 18th! Which means that Juli Inkster, Cristie Kerr, Suzanne Pettersen, Shi Hyun Ahn, and Sun Ju Ahn (74, T43) and Pat Hurst, Candie Kung, Jeong Jang, Lindsey Wright, Seon Hwa Lee, Jee Young Lee, Jane Park, Inbee Park, Ji-Yai Shin, and Amanda Blumenhurst (73, T29) didn't do all that badly--although Hurst might beg to differ after her -3 through 5 start and double on the 18th to close out her round, and the fighting Super Soph Parks may wonder how they could make so many birdies and score so high. And it means that anyone who stayed at or under par--including players who exceeded expectations like Maria Jose Uribe (thanks to an eagle on the par-5 2nd), Liselotte Neumann (thanks to an eagle on the par-4 15th), Il Mi Chung, and Mi Hyun Kim (70, T6), Mallory Blackwelder, Meena Lee, and Michelle Redman (71, T10), and Se Ri Pak, Carin Koch, and H.J. Choi (72, T18), as well as those who disappointed slightly like Hee-Won Han (who matched Ai-chan's 7 birdies but only managed to finish the round at E), Paula Creamer (-1, but offset almost every birdie with a bogey), and Annika Sorenstam (-1, but +1 over her final 5 holes on the front) or did about as well as could be expected in the first round of a major like Maria Hjorth (-2), Momoko Ueda and Morgan Pressel (-1), and Shiho Ohyama, Teresa Lu, and Ya Ni Tseng (E)--are right in the thick of things.
Friday's round will be a good test of whose games continue to excel under different playing conditions, as Thursday's pairings switch starting times and tees. Fortunately for Stupples and Young, they won't follow up their 1st off the 1st Thursday with a last off the 10th Friday. The Inkster/Davies, Stanford/Matthew, Kerr/Angela Park, and Prammanasudh/Christina Kim pairings will get one last chance to bootstrap themselves onto the right side of the cut line; Seon Hwa Lee will be trying to catch Miyazato, Pettersen Creamer, Mi Hyun Kim Sorenstam, and Pressel Ochoa; and Jee Young Lee/Jang will be trying to play their way into contention.
While you wait for the action to start, treat yourself to some excellent interviews--Stupples talks about motherhood, reveals that two sponsors dropped her after she got pregnant, reminisces about her eagle-double eagle start to the first round of the 2004 British Open, and thanks her first-ever sponsor (a regular at the restaurant she was waitressing at who bankrolled her first three years on tour), while Ochoa, Sorenstam, Miyazato, and Pressel all get in great lines here and there. And don't miss Hound Dog's highlights and Seoul Sister nation's reactions to all the thrills and spills.
[Update 1: Check out this year's KNC Se Ri-port at Seoul Sisters for more on Pak's round. Speaking as a fan, I'm really pleased that Ai-chan had such a great start to the year's first major--a great follow-up to a similar performance her first round in Singapore. Here's hoping the fact that her driving average is up over 250 yards again and that she hit so many greens Thursday are signs that her ball-striking is coming back on-line. Moira Dunn's 76 makes making the cut even tougher, but given how tough the course is, if she can shoot a 73 or better today I'll bet she'll be playing on the weekend. I've avoided picking Mi Hyun Kim in my pre-tournament predictions lately because even she needs time to recover from knee surgery, but her opening round is quite encouraging. I would love to see her confound my expectations and contend this week!]
[Update 2: Here's Hound Dog's first-round recap!]
No comments:
Post a Comment