Evian Masters Friday: Can Mitsuka Keep It Going?

For the 1st 13 holes of the Evian Masters, the JLPGA's 3rd-ranked golfer, Yuko Mitsuka, was one of the coldest golfers in the tournament, having made 3 bogeys and no birdies in that stretch. But over her next 13 holes, she's been the hottest player in the field, with an eagle, 6 birdies, and no bogeys. Playing the par-4 9th now, she has a chance to open her 2nd round with a 31 and join Na Yeon Choi for the lead at -6.

[Update 1 (7:01 am): Song-Hee Kim also has a chance for a 31 on the front that would bring her to -6 for the tournament; all she needs to do is make her 5th consecutive birdie of the day on the 9th hole. This is what makes the 1st 2 rounds of the Evian so exciting, as players seek to distance themselves from the field. It's the kind of course where you can go very low, but also struggle greatly. Just ask the 4 Americans who are going to miss the cut: Solheim Cuppers Christina Kim (75-76) and Nicole Castrale (76-72) and those struggling to displace Natalie Gulbis from the last automatic qualifying spot or get a captain's pick Stacy Prammanasudh (74-76) and Laura Diaz (+8 on the tournament through 17).]

[Update 2 (7:09 am): Speaking of missing the cut, world #2 Ya Ni Tseng is going to need some help if she is to avoid this fate. She made 4 birdies in her last 8 holes of bogey-free golf (finally!) to fight back to E on the day and +3 for the tournament, but with 71 players at +2 or better and 8 players already safely on the right side of the cut line at T59 (including Juli Inkster, Angela Stanford, Katherine Hull, Jane Park, and the LET's Marianne Skarpnord), she needs at least 2 of maybe a dozen players near her to fall back to her level. And she can't afford for any of the 5 tied with or just behind her to pass her.]

[Update 3 (7:18 am): The problem for Tseng is that a lot of players can make late charges to get on the right side of the cut line. Amy Yang went -3 over her last 6 holes to shoot a 71 that brought her back to +1 for the tournament. Lorena Ochoa went -5 over her last 16 (after making back-to-back bogeys to start her round that had brought her all the way to +5 on the tournament). Lindsey Wright shot a bogey-free 68 to move to -2, where she was joined by Shiho Oyama, whose 68 came from 5 birdies--3 in her last 6 holes.]

[Update 4 (7:29 am): Back to the top of the leaderboard, I'm happy to report that Mitsuka and Kim both birdied the 9th for their 31s (the low 9s of the tournament thus far). Joining them at -5 on the day and -6 for the tournament is Sophie Gustafson who's having her 1st good tournament in what feels like forever. But 1st-round co-leader Becky Brewerton just birdied the 2nd and 3rd to take the lead at -7. Se Ri Pak would be tied with her were it not for yesterday's late triple bogey--she's gone -5 over her last 14 holes to fight back to -4 for the tournament. Also off to good starts are Ai Miyazato and Meena Lee, who are -2 through 5 and -5 for the tournament. But don't look now--defending champion Helen Alfredsson is also at -5 after posting a bogey-free 33 on the front.]

[Update 5 (7:33 am): Whoops, Pak's 2nd bogey of the day just dropped her back into a tie at -3 with Kristy McPherson, who's got a great chance to turn a solid bogey-free round into a great one if she can get hot on her last 4 holes. She'll need to do it if she wants to catch Stacy Lewis, who shot a 33 on the front and seems to have gotten over yesterday's difficulties with her putting.]

[Update 6 (7:36 am): U.S. Women's Open champion Eun-Hee Ji birdied 18 for a solid 69 that brings her to -2 on the tournament, tied with Wright and Oyama.]

[Update 7 (8:18 am): Girls woke up! Turns out it was Hee Young Park who shot the 69 to join Wright and Oyama at -2--she birdied her last 4 holes to do it, too. Ji shot a 70 and is at -1, with Suzann Pettersen, Michelle Wie, and Tania Elosegui. Also moving from flirting with the cut line to positioned for moving day was Ji-Yai Shin, who bounced back from a double on the 6th with 3 birdies over her last 10 holes to finish at -2 for the day and the tournament.]

[Update 8 (8:46 am): Wow, a lot can happen during breakfast! Brewerton's eagle on the par-5 7th brings her to -5 on her day and -10 for the tournament. Lewis has birdied 3 of her last 4 holes to get to -6 on the day and -7 for the tournament. Mitsuka is still -6 for the tournament with 3 holes to go--so far she's parred every hole on the back, but she went birdie-par-eagle here yesterday. Miyazato is -3 through 10 and tied with Mitsuka. Pak finished with a 67, McPherson with a 68. The cut line has moved back to +3 for now, but who knows where it will end up?]

[Update 9 (8:50 am): Actually, it's unlikely it'll move to +4, and even more unlikely that Emma Zackrisson and Lisa Hall will finish with a flurry of eagles to move it back to +2.]

[Update 10 (8:56 am): Don't look now, but Cristie Kerr is making a move. She's played 13 holes of bogey-free golf today and at -4 for her round is now at -6 for the tournament. Disappointing finish for Gustafson, though; after getting to -8 for the tournament with a birdie on the 16th, she bogeyed 17 and only parred 18 for a 66. Ai-chan joins her and Lewis at -7 with her 2nd birdie in a row on the back at #11. Over her 1st 11 holes yesterday and today, she's made 9 birdies and no bogeys. Let's see if she can close out her round today stronger than she did yesterday in the rain.]

[Update 11 (9:02 am): Looks like the Americans are on the comeback trail. Paula Creamer is -2 through 13 and tied with McPherson and Wendy Ward (E through 11 today) right now at -4. Despite an early double, Brittany Lang shot her 2nd-straight under-par round and sits at -3. Morgan Pressel's bogey-free streak ended at 22 holes, but she just made her 3rd birdie of the day to offset her back-to-back bogeys early on the front and stands at -3 for the tournament through 13. Brittany Lincicome shot her 2nd straight 71, while Pat Hurst and Michelle Redman have good chances to pass her over their final few holes.]

[Update 12 (9:08 am): Anna Nordqvist is making a charge today, too. She's -4 over her last 10 holes and in great position to improve on her -5 total for the tournament. And Meena Lee is hanging tough; her 4th birdie of the day, on #11, brings her to -7 for the tournament. Yesterday's co-leaders Na Yeon Choi (-1 through 8) and In-Kyung Kim (E through 8) had better get it going if they don't want to be left completely in the dust today.]

[Update 13 (9:10 am): Hey, Choi and Kim both birdied 9, making up a stroke on Brewerton, who had to settle for a 31 on the front (1 better than yesterday's start and tied with Song-Hee Kim and Yuko Mitsuka for low 9 of the tournament).]

[Update 14 (9:17 am): Choi just made it 2 birdies in a row to break the logjam at -7 and move into solo 2nd.]

[Update 15 (9:20 am): Mitsuka broke her 8-hole par streak with a birdie on the 18th for a 66, tied with Song-Hee Kim, who failed to make it 3 birdies in a row to close out her round but also tied Gustafson at -7 for the tournament and co-leader in the clubhouse. But Ai-chan was the next player to pass them; she's birdied 3 of her last 4 holes and is only 2 behind Brewerton.]

[Update 16 (9:29 am): Oh no! Lewis bogeyed 18 (mirroring her bogey on the 1st) to "only" shoot a 67. Now it's Kerr's chance to pass her for low American--she has the short 16th through 18th to go, as does Paula Creamer, who's -4 over her last 11 holes and is just a shot back of Lewis and Kerr.]

[Update 17 (9:35 am): Natalie Gulbis was another American who flirted with the cut line--twice, actually--but came back both times to close at -1 through 36 holes. The cut line, by the way, did end up at +3.]

[Update 18 (9:45 am): Kerr moved to -7, Creamer and Ward to -6, Choi to -9, and Brewerton to -11 with their recent birdies.]

[Update 19 (9:46 am): Alfredsson posted a fine 69 to join Pak at -5, but both will need to shoot in the mid-60s at least once on the weekend to have a chance for a win that would mean a lot to either of them.]

[Update 20 (9:48 am): Off to story time with the girls. Onechan would like to see Karrie Webb start making more birdies. I'd say the same about Seon Hwa Lee. Both are stalled at -3, where Pat Hurst ended up.]

[Update 21 (12:58 pm): Check out Hound Dog's 2nd-round overview for the final results.]

[Update 22 (1:32 pm): Onechan will be glad to hear that Karrie Webb made 3 birdies down the stretch to pull to -6 and only 3 shots out of the lead after Brewerton's late bogeys brought her back to Ai-chan and NYC. I'm dismayed at Seon Hwa Lee's finish (she dropped all the way to -1 for the tournament with her 74 today), and feel bad for Momoko Ueda (75, E), Candie Kung (74, E), and Mika Miyazato (76, +3), but with Ai-chan and Inky at the top of the leaderboard, I've still got plenty to root for.]

[Update 23 (1:37 pm): Only 7 players have broken 70 both rounds, while 24 have gone under par twice. I have to admit that I'm amazed that 66 is the lowest score of the tournament. I truly believe there are a couple of low 60s and several mid-60s rounds to come. My guess is the winning score comes between -16 and -21.]

Evian Masters Thursday: Who Can Top Brewerton's 67?

There aren't as many low numbers among the early starters at the Evian Masters as I expected, so Becky Brewerton, last week's winner on the LET and the last entrant into the field of 90, stands alone at -5 right now. And her round could even have been better. After making 5 birdies in a 6-hole stretch starting on the par-4 5th, she offset a pair of bogeys on 13 and 14 with a pair of birdies on 16 and 17, but missed great birdie opportunities on the closing par 5s, 15 and 18. Her nearest competitor in the clubhouse is Jin Joo Hong, who opened with 3 bogeys in her 1st 4 holes, but closed with 5 birdies in her last 11 (despite also failing to birdie the 15th and 18th) for a 70. Yuko Mitsuka's comeback was even more intense: +3 through 13, she finished birdie-par-birdie-par-eagle for her 71.

I'll be providing updates off and on through the morning. Be sure to check out the tournament website for preview videos, interviews, and more. And let me know if you could get the live tv to work for you!

[Update 1 (7:07 am): The traditional way to go low at Evian is to take advantage of the front and finish hot. A double bogey on the par-4 6th derailed Anna Nordqvist's attempt to do the first part, but she came back with birdies on 8, 10, and 18 to join Hong at -2. Na Yeon Choi opened with a bogey-free 33, but just bogeyed the 10th to fall back to -2. We'll see if Karine Icher, who matched Choi's front, can avoid her fate on the 10th. Karen Stupples did, and more--she's -4 through 11. Ji Young Oh did, too, until she bogeyed the par-4 12th, but she got back to -3 with a birdie on the par-3 14th. An eagle on the par-4 11th just brought In-Kyung Kim into the -3 club, as well--let's see if she can avoid squandering it like Stacy Lewis (71) did with hers on the 10th. But the player with the best chance to surpass Brewerton at the moment is my pick to win this thing. Yup, Ai Miyazato birdied the 4th, 5th, and 6th to get to -3. She failed to birdie the par-5 7th, but there haven't been as many birdies there thus far today as on the other par 5s. Let's see how she closes out the front.]

[Update 2 (7:12 am): Kim followed up her eagle with a birdie on the 12th, joining Stupples at -4. Sweet!]

[Update 3 (7:16 am): Besides Ai-chan and Inky, other players I like a lot are doing just fine so far. Seon Hwa Lee is -2 through 10, with 3 birdies on the front, so hopefully she's shaken off the back troubles that caused her early WD from the U.S. Women's Open. Momoko Ueda bounced back from her opening bogey with birdies on 2, 4, and 6, so let's see if she can get another on the par-3 8th. And Mika Miyazato, playing with Ai-chan and Momo-chan, birdied 3 and 5 to offset her bogey on 1. Hold on! Ai-chan just birdied the 8th to get to -4. Momo-chan parred it, but Mika-chan bogeyed it.]

[Update 4 (7:21 am): Maria Hjorth has birdied 3 of her 1st 4 holes for the fastest start to the tournament yet. Candie Kung made 3 birdies on the front to offset her 2nd-hole bogey, so watch out for the Lee Westwood of the U.S. Women's Open this week. And Hall of Famer Se Ri Pak also opened with a 3-birdie 34. Wouldn't a win for her this week to join Annika Sorenstam, Karrie Webb, and Juli Inkster mean a lot to her and her fans?]

[Update 5 (7:26 am): Whoops, Stupples made her 1st big mistake of the day with a bogey on the par-4 12th. Now it's just Inky and Ai-chan at -4. Oh has a great chance to join them as she's playing the 18th. The JLPGA's Mi-Jeong Jeon can join Hong and Nordqvist at -2 with a birdie there, as well.]

[Update 6 (7:31 am): Oh did it. She posted a 68, good enough for 2nd right now.]

[Update 7 (7:33 am): Stacy Lewis on twitter blames her putter and forecasts rain.]

[Update 8 (7:35 am): Don't look now, but Lee birdied 12 and Pak birdied 10 to get to -3.]

[Update 9 (7:39 am): Now that's more like it! Teresa Lu bounced back from a bogey at 17 with an eagle at 18 to also post a 68! Candie Kung (-2 through 11) and Ya Ni Tseng (+2 through 11 thanks to a pair of doubles) have something to shoot for if they want to be the low Taiwanese player this week. Oh, and Stupples joins the ever-growing group at -4 with a bounceback birdie on 13.]

[Update 10 (7:45 am): Speaking of big numbers, what is Nicole Castrale doing with that 76 today so close to the Solheim Cup? Only Martina Eberl can keep her out of a tie with Lotta Wahlin for last place! Laura Diaz only did 2 strokes better, and she's fighting for that last spot on the team. Christina Kim and Jane Park are +3 with a handful of holes left to go, while Michelle Wie and Natalie Gulbis are +2 as they close out the front. What's up with the Americans? Kristy McPherson is low American in the clubhouse with a disappointing 72.]

[Update 11 (7:48 am): Whoops, Stacy Lewis is American, too! But consider this: Italy's Diana Luna (-2 through 12) and Russia's Maria Verchenova (-1 through 9) are outplaying most of the contenders for the US Solheim Cup team. Ouch!]

[Update 12 (7:49 am): Speaking of ouch, a double just derailed Hjorth's hot start. But on the bright side, Ai-chan opened with a 32 and Momo-chan with a 33. And the JLPGA's Jeon did birdie 18 to post a 70.]

[Update 13 (7:53 am): Here's an even bigger ouch! Lu didn't actually eagle 18; she parred it. And with a bogey on the 16th, too, she finished with a 73, not the 68 LPGA.com originally gave her!]

[Update 14 (7:57 am): More ouches. Lorena Ochoa and Angela Stanford each have 0 birdies, 1 bogey, and 1 double to their names in their 1st 6 holes.]

[Update 15 (7:59 am): Even more. England's Melissa Reid, a likely Solheim Cupper who's not shy about her desire to leave the LET for the LPGA, doubled 18 for a 75. Yikes!]

[Update 16 (8:01 am): Still more. Juli Inkster started birdie-bogey-bogey-bogey-double-birdie and now has 2 pars in a row as she heads onto the 9th.]

[Update 17 (8:03 am): How about some good news for a change? Inky and Ai-chan are -5! Kim birdied the par-5 15th and Miyazato birdied the par-4 10th.]

[Update 18 (8:04 am): Meena Lee couldn't make it 2 birdies in a row to finish off her round, but she's the 3rd person to break 70 in the field.]

[Update 19 (8:05 am): How about that? Momo-chan also birdied 10 to get to -4!]

[Update 20 (8:43 am): Girls woke up. Time to feed them. And Ai-chan doubled 12. Oh no!]

[Update 21 (8:44 am): Whoa--and Se Ri tripled 13.]

[Update 22 (8:46 am): Choi birdied 15 and 16 to get to -4. She can tie Brewerton and Kim with a birdie on 18.]

[Update 23 (9:35 am): Choi made it 3 birdies in her last 4 holes to post the 3rd 67 of the day. Icher and Stupples joined Oh at 68. Seon Hwa Lee joined Meena Lee at 69. Ueda is -4 with 3 to play, Miyazato -3. Hjorth is back to -4, thanks to an ongoing 3-hole birdie train from the 9th on. Morgan Pressel opened with 16 straight pars and birdied out to join the big group at 70. I'm out till lunch!]

[Update 24 (11:54 am): Man, Ai-chan can't buy a break! The rains came in as she was finishing her round--don't know if they were a factor in her double/bogey stretch, but after a birdie on the 14th to fight back to -3, she couldn't make another the rest of the way. Momo-chan bogeyed 16 and birdied 17 to also finish at -3--guess it was another LPGA.com mistake that had her at -4 with 3 to go. Karrie Webb birdied 3 of 4 holes as she made the turn and finished with a birdie on the 17th to join them at T8 right now. With play suspended, Hjorth is -3 through 16 and Wendy Ward is -4 through 14.

Ward's making a big push to get into the conversation about Solheim Cup captain's picks. Creamer and Kerr, who will be leading the US team, joined Pressel at -2, so Ward has a great chance to be low American in the 1st round, although she'll have to stay ahead of Pat Hurst and Brittany Lincicome, who are both -2 with a few to play, to do it. Brittany Lang and Natalie Gulbis matched Lewis's 71, while Leta Lindley matched McPherson's 72. So it's not like all the Americans did terribly today. And actually, the damage wasn't complete for the Americans who got off to bad starts: Michelle Wie birdied her last 2 holes to salvage a 73, Juli Inkster birdied 16 and 17 for a 74, Stacy Prammanasudh bogeyed 18 for her 74, and Angela Stanford could still birdie 18 to join Inkster and Prammanasudh. When you consider that Ya Ni Tseng shot a 75, Jane Park's and Christina Kim's don't seem all that bad.

Ji-Yai Shi needed to play her last 10 holes in 2-under to get back to E, while Pettersen bogeyed 18 for hers and Pak ended up at E as well when she couldn't make any bounceback birdies after her triple. So there are plenty of big-name players not playing up to expectations today.]

[Update 25 (12:03 pm): Hound Dog has 2 awesome thinkpieces up today, one on whether majors are really tougher to win and another on the 2010 entry criteria for the Evian Masters and their implications for the LET. Plus his 1st-round overview is coming once the 15 players still on the course complete their rounds.]

[Update 26 (12:13 pm): I wonder what Jeff Skinner will make of this leaderboard. He wants the LPGA's biggest (in his eyes, American) stars to step up this week, but instead we have an LPGA Q-School dropout tied with the best player on tour without a win and perhaps the best Junior Mint on tour at the top of the leaderboard.]

[Update 27 (12:56 pm): Ward finished with a 68 (T4), Hjorth bogeyed 2 of her last 3 for her 70 (T13), Hurst also shot a 70, Ji-Hee Lee of the JLPGA birdied 3 of her last 5 to join them, Gulbis, Lincicome, and Jee Young Lee ended at 71 (T27), Eun-Hee Ji birdied 18 to salvage a 73 (T53), but Stanford couldn't do it so ended up with a 75...just like Ochoa! If you're wondering why Jimin Kang showed up off the alternate list and ended up with a 75, too, well the hot rumor going around Seoul Sisters.com is that Angela Park didn't just DNS from the Evian but may well have retired!]

[Update 28 (6:03 pm): Please see the comments from Pyoung and Jamie, which are practically posts in themselves. And do check out Jamie's extended comments over at Crosscourt Birdies, Hound Dog"s 1st-round overview, and Brian Heard's look at how the Evian purse compares to typical LPGA, LET, and KLPGA purses.]

As the LPGA World Turns

Seems like Lorena Ochoa's former caddie, Dave Brooker, is now looping for Suzann Pettersen. Wonder if he'll be playing in the annual soccer match at Evian? It was the broken foot he suffered at the Corona soccer match that was probably the beginning of the end for him with Lorena.

Evian Masters Pairings

The Evian Masters just announced their Thursday pairings and let's just say that they're pretty awesome. They honor their multiple winners Rachel Hetherington and Laura Davies by putting them with Karrie Webb at 11:31 am, followed by American winners Paula Creamer, Natalie Gulbis, and Juli Inkster. They generally tried to make their threesomes include an American, Asian, and European player, but broke with that principle enough to make things interesting, as with the Ai Miyazato, Mika Miyazato, Momoko Ueda pairing at 11:00 am or the Candie Kung, Se Ri Pak, Ya Ni Tseng pairing at 10:27 am. If I were there instead of here, though, the only pairing that might tear me away from Ai-chan and Momo-chan would be In-Kyung Kim, Morgan Pressel, and Katherine Hull at 9:43 am, although for sheer entertainment value, it would be fun to be a spotter for the Pat Hurst, Jee Young Lee, Brittany Lincicome team of bombers. Now I gotta figure out the time zones to see if I can catch any action on Evian Masters TV.

[Update 1 (4:21 pm): Brian Heard profiles Amy Yang in advance of her 7:22 am starting time Thursday with Yuko Mitsuka and Anja Monke.]

[Update 2 (7/22/09, 4:56 am): Check it out! Stephanie Wei scored an interview with Natalie Gulbis in NYC before she left for Evian (Natalie, not Stephanie)!]

[Update 3 (5:44 am): Just realized that Heard's claim that Yang is the only Korean player on the LPGA to come via Australia is wrong. Haeji Kang is another one coming out of this pipeline.]

[Update 4 (11:11 am): Speaking of Australia, Hound Dog has a great profile of Lindsey Wright. She's paired with Hee Young Park and Meena Lee, heading off at 9:10 am tomorrow.]

[Update 5 (11:20 am): Golf Observer finally has their player history chart up. Looks like I was an idiot not to pick Lorena for a top 5, much less a top 15!]

Finally! The LPGA Has Good News to Announce

They've got a new tournament in Acapulco for 2010 and 2011! (Hat tip: BunkerShot.com.)

Yup, it's another Mexico event, with a purse of only $1.3M, but a) that's a hell of a lot more than $0 and b) it's in North America. So now the LPGA has 14 events locked up for next season, 15 existing ones in discussions, and an undisclosed number of possible new events. Looking forward to them keeping the mo' going during the European swing and in the run-up to the Solheim Cup!

[Update 1 (4:10 pm): Heh, beat Randall Mell by 18 minutes! He'll beat me in page views, though. So let's call it a...draw?]

[Update 2 (9:15 pm): John Strege beat me by an hour, darn it!]