Wie 2-over-par, trails Women's Open leader by 7
Associated Press
NORTH PLAINS, Ore. — Michelle Wie of Honolulu shot a 2-over-par 73 today and trails the leaders by seven shots after the first round of the U.S. Women's Open.
Mhairi McKay birdied five straight holes on the back nine for a 5-under 66 and a three-stroke lead, matching the largest 18-hole margin in Women's Open history.
Wie is among 14 teenagers in the field, believed to be the most for the U.S. Women's Open. There were only two teens in the U.S. Open at Olympia Fields last month, and both missed the cut.
Wie, a ninth-grader at Punahou School, finally made one of her 300-yard drives pay off with a birdie to finish at 73 at the par-71 Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club.
"I guess golf is getting younger and younger," said Wie, who earlier this year played in the final group at the Nabisco Championship — an LPGA major — and tied for ninth.
"People have good days and bad days, and some people have good weeks," Wie said. "I guess it's our week right now."
Annika Sorenstam — remember her? — opened with a 72.
The show belonged to the teenagers.
"Great, great talent," McKay said.
Morgan Pressel, 15, played bogey-free golf on a wicked Witch Hollow course until a bad drive, a duck hook and a third shot that went over the green led to a double bogey on the final hole and a 1-under 70.
No biggie, said the 10th-grader with a blond ponytail and braces.
She slung her bag over her shoulders, walking through the clubhouse like she had just finished a junior event — not the biggest in women's golf.
"I'm playing well," Pressel said. "I'm not going to say I expected it, but I'm not surprised by it."
Aree Song, 17, also had a 70, matching the best score among early the starters. Irene Cho, 18, had an even-par 71.
Defending champion Juli Inkster, a 43-year-old with a daughter the same age as Wie and Sydney Burlison (81), birdied the final hole for a 69. She was tied with Donna Andrews.
McKay, Inkster and Andrews were the only players to break 70, while there were 20 rounds in the 80s. The worst belonged to Kathryn Cusick, who had a 93.
Whether the kids are having a good week or one good day will be determined over the final three rounds at Pumpkin Ridge.
"They've got to be good players to be here," Inkster said. "The thing with this golf course is it's a four-day tournament. You've just go to stay in the ballgame. I guess that's what they're doing."
McKay has been working hard on her swing, and it came together at an opportune time. She made four straight birdies with wedges in her hand, then finished off her string with a 5-iron into 15 feet at No. 16.
The three-stroke lead was the largest after the first round of the U.S. Women's Open since Helen Alfredsson in 1994.
McKay stumbled down the stretch, hitting a poor drive on the 16th that led to bogey, and missing the green on the 17th for another bogey.
But she ended in style on the 502-yard 18th, clearing the hazard with her second shot and leaving herself a delicate pitch from the left rough. The ball came out high and soft, landed on the front of the green and grazed the left lip before stopping 2 feet away.
After tapping in for her eighth birdie of the round, McKay turned to the crowd on both sides, then tossed her ball into the grandstand.
It was only the second time she shot in the 60s at a Women's Open, but McKay knows better than to get overly excited.
"It's Thursday," she said, holding out her arms to quell the optimism. "You can't get too far ahead of yourself."
No one can ever be too far ahead of Sorenstam, who scrambled out of a tough start with three straight birdies. The best player in women's golf closed on a disappointing note, three-putting from 30 feet for bogey to finish 1 over par.
"I'm tired," Sorenstam said. "I was thinking on every shot."
Song was known as Aree Wongluekiet — her mother's Thai surname — when she played in the final group of an LPGA major at the 2000 Nabisco Championship as a 13-year-old, winding up in a tie for 10th.
"I think my time will come," Song said.
While there is an extraordinary number of teenagers in the field, one constant about the U.S. Women's Open is that trouble is waiting in the lips of the bunkers, in waist-high fescue, in water hazards and anytime someone winds up on the wrong side of the hole.
Laura Diaz was at 3 under and leading with three holes left when her tee shot landed next to the lip of a bunker, forcing her to chip out. A poor 3-wood continued the spiral toward double bogey, and a bogey on the ninth left her with a 71.
"The U.S. Open is the most roller-coaster golf that you probably will ever see," she said.
No one knows that better than 43-year-old Rosie Jones.
The Phil Mickelson of women's golf — the best to have never won a major — Jones started like she wanted the trophy on Thursday. She birdied the first three holes, including a wedge into a foot on No. 11, and was 4 under through five.
"I thought, 'Well, this is going to be easy. When is the golf course going to hit me?"' she said. "I kind of had a silly three-putt, and then one really bad swing."
The bad swing was with a 9-wood on No. 3, and it went into the hazard and led to double bogey. She finished with a 70.
The Witch Hollow course averaged about five shots over par, and anything in the low 70s figured to give everyone a chance — even the kids.
