Southern California's No. 1 Golf Source
SITE
SEARCH
GOLF RESOURCE GUIDE:
Kraft Nabisco Championship
|
||||
|
Two of the LPGA Tour’s best have wasted little time in positioning themselves for the first major title of the season. Norway’s Suzann Pettersen fired a bogey-free 5-under-par 67 Thursday to grab the early lead at the Kraft Nabisco Championship, while Mexico’s Lorena Ochoa, the reigning LPGA Player of the Year and a staple atop the Rolex Rankings, shot a 68 and is alone in second following one round at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage. There are seven players tied for third at 3-under par: Becky Brewerton, Na On Min, former Kraft Nabisco champion Karrie Webb, Song-Hee Kim, Vicky Hurst, Yani Tseng and Karen Stupples. Both Ochoa and Pettersen are major champions — the second of Ochoa’s two major titles came at the Kraft in 2008, while Pettersen won the 2007 LPGA Championship. The Norwegian has come close in the Coachella Valley before, tying for second behind Ochoa in ’08 and also sharing runner-up honors when Morgan Pressel won in ’07. “I’ve played good here before in the past, and I’m always looking forward to coming back and playing this course,” said Pettersen. “I could take a bogey-free round any day around this place.” Early this season, the 28-year-old has battled a hip injury that required a cortisone shot. She says there is no more pain and that her swing is rounding into form thanks to work she’s put in with instructor David Leadbetter, who’s been on the grounds this week. “It’s getting there,” she said. “It’s coming back and I'm starting to feel really good about how it's looking and feeling.” Ochoa, meanwhile, was happy to open with a solid round since her 2010 campaign has started in rocky fashion. Usually a favorite at every event she enters, the 28-year-old hasn’t mustered better than a tie for 18th in any of her three appearances this season. In last week’s Kia Classic at La Costa Resort and Spa, she finished tied for 52nd — only the third time in her career she’s concluded outside the top 50 on the leaderboard after making a cut. “It’s been hard the last few weeks, so you know, I can only tell you that I think it’s a great start,” Ochoa said of her opening-round performance at the Kraft. Hee Kyung Seo, a member of the Korean LPGA Tour who captured last week’s Kia Classic playing on a sponsor’s exemption, opened with an even-par 72 and is tied for 23rd. Twenty-year-old Michelle Wie made one birdie and 17 pars en route to a 1-under 71 and a share of 14th place with a plethora of players, including Americans Pressel, Cristie Kerr, Pat Hurst and Stacy Lewis. Jennifer Song, a sophomore on the USC women’s golf team, also shot a 71 to find herself in a tie for 14th place and pace the amateur contingent. La Quinta resident Jennifer Johnson, a freshman at Arizona State University who lost to Song in the final of last year’s U.S. Women’s Amateur, shot a 2-over-par 74. Before the first round started, three players — Helen Alfredsson, Shanshan Feng and Maria Hjorth — were disqualified for missing tee times at Wednesday's pro-am. For a full leaderboard, visit lpga.com. Check back to Southland Golf all week for more coverage of the Kraft Nabisco Championship. ALSO SEE: Seo wins Kia Classic at La Costa All you need to know: Kraft Nabisco Championship LPGA Tour kicks off 2010 season in Southern California Michael Whan off to a fast start as LPGA Tour commissioner Five LPGA Tour players to watch |
||||
RSS Subscribe
