KAHUKU — While huge waves crashed on one side, golf scores crashed on the other as the wind picked up as the SBS Open at Turtle Bay progressed yesterday.

Kelli Kuehne, sheltered from the North Shore's bluster by a sunrise start, leads the LPGA's first 2008 stop after shooting a 5-under-par 67 at the resort's Palmer Course.

No one could catch her in the morning, with Jacqueline Yang (68) coming closest. Sherri Steinhauer and Meena Lee, who both have had success in Hawai'i before, were next with 69s.

Yang, a University of Tennessee All-American from South Korea, went back to the Qualifying Tournament last year to keep her playing card. Steinhauer, 45, went into the final round here a year ago with a share of the lead (finishing 17th), while Lee won the 2006 Fields Open in Hawai'i.

The wind-blown afternoon wave did not come that close.

Wendy Ward, the 1998 Hawaiian Ladies Open champion, was 4-under with two holes left, but also finished at 69, along with Lindsey Wright, 2007 U.S. Women's Open champion Cristie Kerr, Erica Blasberg and Ji-Young Oh.

Paige Mackenzie got to 4-under after 10 holes, but bogeyed two of the last three to tumble into an intriguing mob at 70 that includes 44-year-old Meg Mallon, heralded Japanese rookie Momoko Ueda, Annika Sorenstam — arguably the best female player ever — and defending champion Paula Creamer.

Those last two played together in the afternoon, and followed each other through thick and thin. Both were 3-under after birdieing the 16th. They tumbled to 1-under after suffering double bogeys on the following hole, Creamer chipping cross-green from a "horrible lie" and Sorenstam failing to get her first chip up to the green. Both birdied the closing hole.

"I think I lost focus there," Creamer said about the 17th, where she sank a 40-foot birdie last year for her winning margin. "That's just part of not being in my routine of playing 18 holes every day and finishing it up."

Sorenstam, coming back from injury and her first winless season since 1994, called that first chip her only miss, and characterized her round as "excellent." She hit 15 greens in regulation.

Today, Creamer and Sorenstam hope to match Kuehne's bogey- and bluster-free round.

Kuehne comes from a close and golf-happy family with all the siblings holding USGA championships. Oldest brother Trip won last year's Mid-Amateur to earn a place at The Masters. Hank, who is dating Venus Williams, was the 1998 U.S. Amateur champ and plays on the PGA Tour.

At 5 feet 3, Kelli is the shortest — "I'm a shrimp but I stand tall, baby" — and most decorated amateur of the bunch. The 30-year-old won the 1994 U.S. Junior Girls and the 1995 and '96 U.S. Women's Amateur, but the pros have been a tougher challenge. Her only LPGA win came in 1999. Her best finish last year was 24th and she made just eight cuts.

That sent her back to school, literally and figuratively. "On a mission," she worked on her game two months before Q-School, finishing fourth to keep her status.

"My whole objective this year is I don't want to have an expectation," Kuehne said. "I want to play freely and whatever comes, comes. It's the first round. I love the start I got off to, but it's the first round."

Mackenzie can relate. A year ago she shot 67 here in her LPGA debut. She was 6-over the final two days and finished 17th. She had just two other rounds in the 60s all year. She came to Turtle Bay with non-exempt status and only got in this 139-player field because of a withdrawal.

DWYER DEBUTS

Kailua's Bridget Dwyer fired a 76 in her LPGA debut. The Punahou graduate, named Most Inspirational on UCLA's 2004 NCAA championship team, has played fulltime on the Duramed Futures Tour the last two years.

She is playing on a sponsor's exemption here, and the promotion to the big leagues came with its share of stressy. Dwyer bogeyed her first two holes (10 and 11).

"I was super excited to be playing at home in my first LPGA tournament, with all my family here," said Dwyer, runner-up at the 2006 Big Break VI. "I really wanted to make sure I had fun and soaked it all in. I was super nervous on the first two holes, bogeyed them and then said, 'OK', and gave myself a little pep talk."

She parred the next eight holes, but bogeyed four in a five-hole stretch on the front nine while her group was being timed by LPGA officials — a first for Dwyer. "We pretty much ran up the fairways on three holes," she said. "That really shook me."

Dwyer birdied the third through the sprint, then closed by sinking a 20-foot birdie putt on the ninth.

"The toughest part was trying to handle myself emotionally while the rules official was there," she said. "That stressed me out, it was kinda scary."

Dwyer still enjoyed her first LPGA experience.

"It feels a lot different," Dwyer admitted. "For one thing, there's ropes. In that sense it's different. And just knowing it's where I always wanted to play and finally I'm here. It means a lot."

NOTES

Cindy Rarick, who played for the University of Hawai'i in the 1970s, took a triple-bogey on the first hole yesterday and shot 80. Rarick represents Waikoloa on the tour. The first of her five LPGA victories came in the 1987 Hawaiian Ladies Open at what is now Turtle Bay's Fazio Course.

Morgan Pressel, who represents Kapalua, shot 73 and Turtle Bay's Dorothy Delasin birdied her last hole to finish at 72. Delasin's caddie is former UH-Hilo golfer Clint Begay, brother of PGA Tour player Notah Begay.

Players will be grouped by score today, but those who went out early yesterday start in the afternoon today, and vice versa. The cut will be made tonight, with the top 70 and ties playing tomorrow's final round.

Next week's Fields Open in Hawai'i will have free shuttle transportation from several Waikiki locations to the Ko Olina Golf Club. It will be available all three rounds (Feb. 21 to 23) beginning at 5:30 a.m. and running every half-hour from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. The last shuttle departure from the Ko Olina Golf Club will be at 5:30 p.m. Pick-up points include: Sheraton Waikiki (covered bus terminal area); DFS Galleria (Royal Hawaiian Avenue entrance); Hyatt Regency Waikiki (side entrance on Koa Street), and; Hilton Hawaiian Village (Kalia Road across from Tapa Tower Bus Depot). Shuttle times are posted on www.fieldsopen.com.

TODAY'S TEE TIMES

First tee

7:10 a.m.—Irene Cho, Stacy Prammanasudh, Diana D'Alessio. 7:20—Natalie Gulbis, Cindy Pasechnik, Hee Young Park. 7:30—Young Kim, Julieta Granada, Brittany Lang. 7:40—Pat Hurst, Morgan Pressel, Christina Kim. 7:50—Liz Janangelo, Wendy Doolan, Dorothy Delasin.

8—Angela Stanford, Momoko Ueda, Ji-Yai Shin. 8:10—Jane Park, Yani Tseng, Becky Morgan. 8:20—Paula Creamer, Mikaela Parmlid, Sandra Gal. 8:30—In-Kyung Kim, Laura Diaz, Paige Mackenzie. 8:40—Lindsey Wright, Cristie Kerr, Annika Sorenstam. 8:50—Wendy Ward, Erica Blasberg, Ji-Young Oh.

11:50—Kelli Kuehne, Jacqueline Yang, Sherri Steinhauer.

Noon—Meena Lee, Meg Mallon, Patricia Meunier-Lebouc. 12:10—Michelle Ellis, Gloria Park, Katherine Hull. 12:20—Tracy Hanson, Katie Futcher, Russy Gulyanamitta. 12:30— Dina Ammaccapane, Silvia Cavalleri, Birdie Kim. 12:40—Jeong Jang, Carolina Llano, Seo-Jae Lee. 12:50—Shanshan Feng, Johanna Head, Hee-Won Han.

1—Na On Min, Sun Young Yoo, Karen Stupples. 1:10—Soo Young Moon, Vicki Goetze-Ackerman, Charlotte Mayorkas. 1:20—Jill McGill, Candie Kung, Inbee Park. 1:30—Jin Joo Hong, Meaghan Francella, Jimin Kang. 1:40—Janice Moodie, Heather Young, Violeta Retamoza.

Tenth tee

7:10—Suzann Pettersen, Alena Sharp, Reilley Rankin. 7:20—Na Yeon Choi, Su A Kim, Angela Park. 7:30—Eun-Hee Ji, Eva Dahllof, Kate Golden. 7:40—Nancy Scranton, Linda Wessberg, Marcy Hart. 7:50—Emily Bastel, Kyeong Bae, Ai Miyazato.

8—Michele Redman, Il Mi Chung, Louise Friberg. 8:10—Yu Ping Lin, Becky Iverson, Jamie Hullett. 8:20—Kristy McPherson, Nicole Perrot, Allison Fouch. 8:30—Jackie Gallagher-Smith, Lorie Kane, Minea Blomqvist. 8:40—Giulia Sergas, Teresa Lu, Sophie Giquel. 8:50—Danielle Downey, Carri Wood, Michelle McGann.

9—Young Jo, Rachel Hetherington, Carin Koch.

11:50—Mhairi McKay, Danielle Ammaccapane.

Noon—Leta Lindley, Ashli Bunch. 12:10—Liselotte Neumann, Becky Lucidi, Cindy Rarick. 12:20—Karin Sjodin, Meredith Duncan, Jennifer Rosales. 12:30—Soo-Yun Kang, Grace Park, Miriam Nagl. 12:40—Jee Young Lee, Nicole Castrale, Bridget Dwyer. 12:50—Helen Alfredsson,Sophie Gustafson, Beth Bader.

1—Brittany Lincicome, Karine Icher, H.J. Choi.

1:10—Brandie Burton, Seon Hwa Lee, Maria Hjorth. 1:20—Kim Hall, Allison Hanna-Williams, Seol-An Jeon. 1:30—Mollie Fankhauser, Kris Tamulis, Song-Hee Kim. 1:40—Candy Hannemann, Moira Dunn, Sarah Kemp.

Reach Ann Miller at amiller@honoluluadvertiser.com.