SemGroup Championship Thursday: The Course Is Winning

With all the morning groups in the clubhouse at the SemGroup Championship, it's safe to conclude that the Cedar Ridge course is winning. Ji Young Oh was the only player to get into red figures in the bunch, and she needed 3 birdies in a row as she made the turn from the back to the front to shoot her 1-under-par 70. Last week's Futures Tour winner Vicky Hurst was -3 at the turn after making 4 birdies and a bogey on the back, but reversed course with 4 bogeys and a birdie on the front to fall back to E, tied with Ai Miyazato and Leta Lindley, who small-balled and scrambled their way around the tough track.

So far, Hee Young Park, at -3 through the 7th hole, is off to the best start of those with afternoon starting times. Defending champion Mi Hyun Kim is +2 through the first eight holes of the back that Oh fired a 32 on, as is Lorena Ochoa, who's seeking her 5th win in as many starts. More later!

[Update (5/2/08, 4:38 am): The Cedar Ridge course continued beating down the top women golfers in the world long into the afternoon in Tulsa. Hee Young Park held on for a 69 and was the only player in the field to break 70. Mi Hyun Kim closed with a 33 on the front to get to -1 and back up her claim that with the tree damage, shorter rough, and her increased distance, the course would be playing much easier than last year. And despite making bogeys on the 8th and 9th, her final holes, Paula Creamer joined Kim and Oh at -1. So 4 players broke 71 while 29 failed to break 80 Thursday. Among those having the most trouble with the course and conditions were Morgan Pressel (80, T114), Grace Park and Sherri Steinhauer (79, Y97), Momoko Ueda and Karen Stupples (78, T81), Angela Park, Inbee Park, and Candie Kung (77, T66), Natalie Gulbis and Laura Diaz (76, T51), and Jee Young Lee, Na Yeon Choi, and Christina Kim (75, T41). In context, then, the following rounds were not all that bad:

T8/+1 Juli Inkster, Cristie Kerr, Carin Koch, Brittany Lang

T14/+2 Jeong Jang, Meena Lee, Teresa Lu, Catriona Matthew, Lorena Ochoa, Angela Stanford

T23/+3 Minea Blomqvist, Laura Davies, Maria Hjorth, Pat Hurst, Eun-Hee Ji, Young Kim, Seon Hwa Lee, Jane Park

Sure, Matthew might feel differently after starting out -2 for her first 7 holes; Ochoa may feel she squandered her eagle on the 1st, her 10th hole, that brought her back to E for a time; Stanford may regret her weak finish after fighting back to -1 at the same point in her round; and Kerr must be frustrated by her 3-over finish over her last 5 holes, also on the front. But they shouldn't feel all that bad, as everyone else had even more lost opportunities on Thursday.

After all, according to the LPGA.com notes and interviews page, wind gusts approached 40 mph and the first-round scoring average was 76.78 (3.5 strokes higher than last year's). Oh emphasized the importance of patience and taking advantage of the wind when it was helping you; Park and Kim talked a lot about playing low-ball golf and punching their way around the course; Creamer talked a lot about mental toughness, working the ball, and being careful on approach shots into the hard, fast, undulating greens. With Ochoa, Kim, and Creamer playing together, it was particularly interesting to hear what they thought of each other's rounds. Kim mentioned that Ochoa hitting the ball so high was a disadvantage in such conditions, but Ochoa felt it was more a problem with her rhythm on approach shots that held her back. Meanwhile, Creamer was surprised that Kim had tied her at the end of the day. Doug Ferguson's AP story helps explain why and is much more detailed than his usual phone-it-in effort for the LPGA. Kudos to Ferguson, as well, for noting that Stacy Prammanasudh withdrew because of the flu.]