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GOLF RESOURCE GUIDE:
Kraft Nabisco Championship
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RANCHO MIRAGE—Six of the top eight players through two rounds of the Kraft Nabisco Championship know what it takes to win a major. But the player at the very top, Song-Hee Kim, hasn’t even won an LPGA Tour event. She’s in position to change that, as she heads into the final 36 holes of the season’s first major with a 7-under-par total and a one-stroke lead at Mission Hills Country Club. “I had a great round today, and my swing was really smooth and comfortable, and also I had great putting today,” said Kim, a South Korean who stands 5-foot-9. Former Kraft Nabisco champion and two-time major winner Lorena Ochoa (68-70) is tied for second at 6-under along with Karen Stupples (69-69) and America’s Cristie Kerr, whose 5-under 67 was the lowest score of the day. Stupples, an Englishwoman, captured the 2004 Women’s British Open while Kerr was victorious at the 2007 U.S. Women’s Open. Australia’s Karrie Webb (69-70), who won the 2006 Kraft Nabisco, is tied for fifth at 5-under with American Stacy Lewis (71-68). Part-time Beaumont resident Yani Tseng (69-71) has a share of seventh with Suzann Pettersen, who backed up with a 1-over 73 after opening with a tournament-pacing 67. Both Tseng and Pettersen have won the LPGA Championship. As is usually the case at the Kraft Nabisco Championship, low numbers were rare. There were only five sub-70 scores on a day when thick rough, fast greens and difficult pin positions wreaked havoc on players at the Dinah Shore Course. “It’s not easy playing a major championship,” said Ochoa. “You miss a couple of fairways and you’re like, ‘Oh my God, what’s going to happen.’ And you’re trying so hard to make birdies.” Kim said she’s no stranger to those same negative thoughts, but she credits a unique mental approach from VISION54 founders Pia Nilsson and Lynn Marriott with her solid play so far this week. “I always think like bad things or negative things,” Kim explained. “So they make me thinking more positive or happy things. I really like frozen yogurt. They keep reminding me, think more frozen yogurt.” Following Sakura Yokomine (70-71), who is alone in ninth place at 3-under par, there is an intriguing threesome tied for 10th at 2-under: Michelle Wie (71-71), Sandra Gal (72-70) and Jennifer Song (71-71), a sophomore on the USC women’s golf team. Although the 20-year-old Wie once again struggled with her putting, taking 30 strokes on the green Friday after 32 Thursday, she’s put herself in birdie range consistently by hitting 28 of 36 greens in regulation. Gal, a native of Germany, is regarded as one of the brightest European talents on Tour and is seeking to contend in a major for the first time. Following her round, she was practicing her putting with Redlands resident and two-time PGA Championship winner Dave Stockton and his son, Dave Jr. And then there’s Song, one of the nation’s top collegiate players who figures to be a part of many more Kraft Nabisco Championships in the future once she turns pro this summer. Song and Wie will play together in Saturday's third round, teeing off at 12:55 p.m. Other news and notes from the second round of the Kraft Nabisco Championship: • A few hours after concluding her second round, Ochoa unveiled her new Golf Foundation in accompaniment with CEO Jason Taylor, who also is the president of the Southern California PGA. Based in Southern California and focused on promoting golf, education and core values among Latino children, the Foundation will hold a fund-raising tournament next Tuesday at Industry Hills Golf Club at Pacific Palms Resort. Ochoa and Taylor also announced the formation of the Lorena Ochoa Golf Academy, a global series of learning centers. The first location will be at Mira Loma’s Goose Creek Golf Club and launch this summer. • Japan’s Ai Miyazato, who won the first two events of the LPGA season, went for the green in two on the par-5 18th hole but hit in the water and made bogey, a mistake which ultimately cost her an opportunity to play on the weekend. The 24-year-old knew she’d have to post a solid score Friday after a first-round 74, but posted a 77 Friday for a 7-over-par total — one stroke higher than the 6-over cut. “Earlier in the season, I just came in with no expectations and good form, but because it was a major maybe I did expect a little too much,” she said through an interpreter. Miyazato, who has been a part-time Orange County resident for five years, recently purchased a house in Irvine. Prior to that, she lived in an apartment in Newport Beach. “I thought the house would be better,” she said. Of Orange County, Miyazato commented, “I just love the weather. And it’s a great environment to practice in.” She says Newport Beach’s Big Canyon Country Club is her preferred practice venue. • Former Beaumont resident and UCLA women’s golfer Jane Park followed up an even-par 72 with a 77 and is tied for 60th at 5-over par. • La Quinta resident Jennifer Johnson (74-76), one of seven amateur exemptions playing this week, made the cut on the number and is tied for 66th. • Palm Desert resident Nicole Castrale (76-77) missed the cut. For a full leaderboard, visit lpga.com. Check back to Southland Golf all week for more coverage of the Kraft Nabisco Championship. ALSO SEE: Tseng feels right at home at Kraft Nabisco Championship Pettersen opens with lead at Kraft Nabisco Championship 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 |
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