Ward shares 1st-round lead
Wendy Ward of Edwall, Wash., looking for her first victory in nearly four years, shot a 7-under-par 65 Thursday to share the first-round lead with Karrie Webb at the Takefuji Classic.
Ward putted extremely well, making a 25-footer, a 20-footer and an 18-footer among her eight birdies to open the 54-hole tournament at The Las Vegas Country Club.
Ward has won three titles since joining the tour full time in 1996, with the other victories coming in 1997 and 1998.
“The neat thing about this course is that pretty much every hole is birdie-able,” Ward said. “Maybe you miss a birdie opportunity, you know there’s going to be another one facing you on the next hole.
“In the past, I haven’t been making those 10-footers, 12-footers. The tap-ins I can handle, but it’s nice when you feel good over something outside of 8, 9 feet.”
Webb, winner of 30 titles since 1996, was accurate with her irons and her putter on the way to eight birdies and a lone bogey. She hit irons within 8 feet of the pin to set up four birdies, and made birdie putts of 25, 20, 18 and 15 feet.
Amateur In-Bee Park, a native of South Korea who is a 16-year-old high school junior in Las Vegas, shot a 66 that left her in a group one shot behind the co-leaders.
Wendy Doolan had consecutive eagles on her way to a 66. She holed a wedge from 109 yards on No. 8, a 420-yard par-4, and then made a 15-foot putt on the 460-yard par-5 9th.
Catriona Matthew, who chipped in from the fringe for one birdie and holed a bunker shot for another, and Mi Hyun Kim also had 66s.
Defending champion Cristie Kerr, who beat rookie Seol-An Jeon in a seven-hole playoff last year, opened with a 72. The par round left her tied for 59th. Jeon shot a 70 and was tied for 33rd.
Annika Sorenstam, who has won five consecutive tournaments, is taking the week off.
PGA Tour
Peter Lonard flirted with a 59 and finished with a two-stroke lead after the opening round of the MCI Heritage at Hilton Head Island, S.C.
The 9-under 62 was one shot off the tournament record and brought some life to an event that doesn’t have Masters champion Tiger Woods and other top players.
Lonard was two strokes ahead of Thomas Levet, who birdied six of his last eight holes to shoot a 64. Darren Clarke was at 65, with Patrick Sheehan another stroke back.
Lonard, a 37-year-old Australian in his fourth season on tour, didn’t look capable of a landmark round after opening with a bogey. But he made 11 birdies over the next 15 holes to take the lead and briefly flirt with golf’s magic number.
He was 10 under after a birdie on No. 16 and put his tee shot on the difficult par-3 17th 15 feet from the pin. A birdie there would have let him go for 59 with a birdie on the famous closing lighthouse hole.
When Lonard walked onto the 17th tee, “I thought I’ve got to birdie the last two holes basically,” he said. “Up until 17, I didn’t really think about it at all.”
Lonard came a foot short on the tricky downhill putt to make the birdie and failed to join Al Geiberger, Chip Beck and David Duval in the group with the only 59s on the PGA Tour.