honoluluadvertiser.com

Sponsored by:

Comment, blog & share photos

Log in | Become a member
The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Saturday, February 24, 2007

LPGA stopped by rain, darkness

 •  Amateur Kim may come up short

By Ann Miller
Advertiser Staff Writer

Stacy Prammanasudh shot a 4-under 68 and is the clubhouse leader in the rain-delayed Fields Open in Hawai'i.

MARCO GARCIA | Associated Press

spacer spacer

KAPOLEI — With timing so precise it looked like a conspiracy, Stacy Prammanasudh and Morgan Pressel pummeled Ko Olina Golf Club yesterday, then watched the rain pummel the rest of the Fields Open in Hawai'i second round.

Prammanasudh shared the lead with Angela Park after the first round, and followed up with a 68 to go into today's final round at 10-under-par 134. Pressel is two back after a spectacular 65 — one off her career low.

Everything else is a little hazy because of a 3-hour rain delay. But Park, the youngest pro in this event, remains vividly in the picture, as does second-year player Jee Young Lee, who birdied five of her first six holes.

"I have a jinx that after the rain delay I always play bad," Lee said. "I think I broke that jinx today."

Play was suspended at 6:30 p.m., with 70 still on the course. That included Park, who played just nine holes but birdied three straight, and Lee, who birdied half her 14 holes. They wedged their way into second at 9 under.

Lee is reading Bob Rotella's book "Golf is Not a Game of Perfect" at night, and focusing inward this morning.

"Obviously this is a brand new thing to me," said Park, a rookie who played the Futures tour last year. "I've never been in this position. But, I can't really control what she (Prammanasudh) does; I can only control what I do."

Park almost didn't get to start her second round, which is more than The Golf Channel can say. She had the second-to-last tee time at 1:25 p.m. Seven minutes before she was to tee off, and 12 minutes before the live television broadcast was to begin, the sky fell and play was stopped. TGC never showed a live shot in its 2-hour time slot.

At that point Pressel was done, dry and grinning. "Rain this afternoon isn't a bad call," she said as the drops pounded the press tent. "No, I'm just kidding."

Prammanasudh also laughed at her luck. "I want to go out and work on a few things," she said as the rain drowned her words. "Then it can dump all it wants."

The greens and bunkers were cleared and the deluged sixth and seventh fairways made playable before golf resumed for the 83 remaining players. Those that didn't finish will start again at 7:30 a.m. today.

The cut will be made after 36 holes are finally completed, with the top 70 and ties going back out for the final round, expected to begin a little after 11 a.m. The leaders should tee off on the first tee at approximately 1:15 p.m.

The teenagers can text each other while they wait. Park had a memory full of text messages after her opening round 66.

"People that usually never call me called me," she said. "They were like, 'Angela, congratulations.' I'm like, 'The tournament's not over yet but thanks.' "

Park and Pressel are both 18, with Park three months younger. If either wins, they would become the youngest champion of a multi-round LPGA event. Paula Creamer, who won last week in the SBS Open at Turtle Bay, set the record in 2005 at 18 years, 9 months, 17 days.

Prammanasudh, a 2002 Tulsa graduate, is almost a decade older and one win wiser. She led wire-to-wire when she captured the Franklin American Mortgage Championship two years ago. She has had seven birdies each of the first two days here and figures she will need more today.

She and Pressel could have had more yesterday. Prammanasudh missed three straight five-foot putts on the back — one for par. Pressel hit it close on pretty much every hole but the second and seventh, which she three-putted for her only bogeys.

"Seven-under is almost the worst that I could have done today," Pressel said, still grinning. "I missed three putts for birdie inside 10 feet and just really had a ton of chances, which was nice for once."

She went into the final round of last week's SBS Open tied for the lead. Pressel, who had nine Top-10 finishes in last year's rookie season, ended up four behind Creamer, but enlightened.

"Paula was on fire last week, at least the day I played with her," Pressel said. "She reeled out four birdies in a row on the front nine and she just never faltered. She's such a great putter and a great ball-striker and, especially in that wind with a little lower ball flight, she was able to control it. It was great to watch."

Pressel started pouring in birdie putts from the moment she missed a five-footer on the first yesterday. She dunked long ones on her second and third holes (Nos. 11 and 12), then eagled the next (par-5, 497-yard 13th) from 54 yards out.

"Yesterday it hit past the hole and swung back to an inch," Pressel said. "Today it went in, so I've improved."

She birdied the next two holes to get to 7-under and birdied her last to return to 8-under, and keep Prammanasudh in sight.

That leaves her in a select group, for now. The wind calmed yesterday, at least before the storm, leaving the course "more score-able," according to Prammanasudh. The final 2 hours were also relatively serene, with receptive greens.

Park, after some early trepidation, took advantage.

"I was four strokes back (to start) and I knew I had to get a couple birdies in before it was sundown," she said. "But after my first birdie I was like, 'This is just routine; this is just another round. Don't freak out, don't worry about it. Just play your round and you'll be fine.'"

Hilo amateur Kimberly Kim, 15, went out first and shot 73. At 3-over 147, she is hovering below the projected cut line in 96th.

NOTES

Former Rainbow Wahine Cindy Rarick, who represents Waikoloa Resort, played her 11 holes in 3-over yesterday and is 2-over for the tournament. Turtle Bay's Dorothy Delasin is 5-over after 11 holes, and 4-over for the tournament. Defending champion Meena Lee is 1-over with four holes to play.

The Golf Channel plans to run its scheduled 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. broadcast today, then hopes to return after its PGA Tour coverage for the conclusion of the Fields Open.

Reach Ann Miller at amiller@honoluluadvertiser.com.