Friday, April 2, 2010

Kraft Nabisco Championship Friday Afternoon: Can Anyone Pass Ochoa and Stupples?

Amazing! I literally bored imoto to sleep during the last few updates to my rundown of the results from the morning pairings at the Kraft Nabisco Championship. So I have a little time before onechan comes home from day care to give a quick overview of the front 9s from the afternoon pairings.

Suzann Pettersen's bogey-free streak came to an end on her 24th hole of the tournament when she double bogeyed the par-4 6th. She's now tied with Song-Hee Kim, who's got a 12-hole bogey-free streak of her own going. 1 shot behind them are Stacy Lewis, who bounced back from yesterday's closing 38 on the back with an opening 34, Sakura Yokomine, who's just birdied the 2nd, and Karrie Webb, who just bogeyed the 6th. If Cristie Kerr and Morgan Pressel can birdie the par-5 9th, they'll join them.

On the other end of the dial, Ai Miyazato doubled the 1st, bogeyed the 3rd, and has gone 26 holes without a birdie. But if she can just hang on, she may find herself on the right side of the cut line. She's T75 right now and +6 is T81. Let's see what kind of fight she's got in her today. Angela Stanford has plenty; after bogeying the 10th, her opening hole, to balloon to +7 for the tournament, she birdied 3 of her last 6 holes on the back to post a 34 and get back to +4.

[Update 1 (5:06 pm): Kerr birdied the 9th; Pressel didn't. Kristy McPherson birdied the 13th and 14th to catch the latter at -2. The former is tied with Webb, Yokomine, Becky Brewerton, and Na On Min at -3.]

[Update 2 (5:08 pm): Song-Hee Kim birdied the 15th to get to -5 overall, alone in 3rd right now.]

[Update 3 (5:11 pm): Don't look now, but another LPGA mom, Hee-Won Han, just joined Pressel and McPherson at -2 with a birdie on the par-3 5th.]

[Update 4 (5:14 pm): Is it a typo that amateur Alexis Thompson is averaging over 297 yards off the tee right now? She's birdied 2 of her 1st 4 to join Inbee Park, who's also opened with 2 early birdies, at E overall.]

[Update 5 (5:15 pm): Angela Stanford is making a serious move! She just birdied her 3rd hole in a row to fight back to +3 overall.]

[Update 6 (5:18 pm): So is Cristie Kerr! Her birdie on the 10th is her 2nd in a row and 3rd of a bogey-free day. Her only blemish so far is that double back on the 17th yesterday. No wonder she's tied with Pettersen, whose only blemish is also that double earlier today!]

[Update 7 (5:20 pm): Na Yeon Choi went 34-40 yesterday. After a 35 on the back, I'm wondering if she'll improve on her front-side total by 5 today, as well!]

[Update 8 (5:24 pm): Never count a Hall of Famer out--Se Ri Pak matched playing partner Choi's 35 and has fought back to +6 overall. She still has a chance to make the cut. +6 is still T81.]

[Update 9 (5:28 pm): Be sure to check out Sean Martin's posts on Michelle Wie and Jennifer Song from the morning pairings. And Randall Mell on Wie and Lincicome.]

[Update 10 (9:09 pm): Well, onechan came home, and I followed her while she rode her bike to the dollar store to buy some nail polish (it was her allowance day), then played some baseball with her in the yard, and ate some dinner. So I missed most of the rest of the action: Kerr's 67 to join Ochoa and Stupples at -6, Kim's 68 to take a 1-shot lead on then, Lewis's 68 and Webb's 70 to pass Tseng, Yokomine's 71 to be alone at -3, and Yuko Mitsuka's 3 straight closing birdies that gave her a 70 and pulled her to E (T19) overall. Stanford went 78-68 to get back to +2 (T32), tied with Alexis Thompson and Anna Nordqvist, among many others. If Jennifer Rosales and Sarah Lee hang on, then 79 golfers will have made the cut at +6. Ai Miyazato, though, was one of the 32 players to miss it. Even without making a single birdie in 36 holes, she only missed the cut by a shot. (I guess that's looking on the bright side, eh? But she was the only JLPGA-affiliated player not to make the cut....) Other victims of Mission Hills include Juli Inkster, Natalie Gulbis, Sun Young Yoo, Christina Kim, Laura Diaz, Tania Elosegui, Wendy Ward, and Angela Park.]

[Update 11 (4/4/10, 12:01 am): Here are Hound Dog, Jamie, and Mike on round 2 of the KNC!]

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