Sorenstam holds 2-stroke lead
Even after eight majors and 61 victories, Annika Sorenstam still feels that sensation of drawing up the perfect shot and pulling it off to near perfection.
When it happens three times over four holes, it’s even better.
The sweetest part was that this was Friday afternoon at the LPGA Championship in Havre de Grace, Md., and those three shots that covered the flag and stopped just a tap-in away for birdie allowed her to seize control in the second leg of the Grand Slam.
“It’s a great rush,” Sorenstam said. “You picture something, it feels solid and you look up and it’s tap-ins.”
A winner in five of her seven tournaments this year, Sorenstam should be used to this by now. The three birdies late in her second round gave her a 5-under-par 67 and a two-shot lead over Laura Davies (70), a position the Swede knows all too well at a major she has won the last two years.
“I’m obviously very happy with where I’m at and the way I’m playing,” said Sorenstam, who was at 9-under 135. “It’s very steady – fairways and greens – and I’m putting well. I’m very pleased so far.”
Natalie Gulbis (69) was in third at 6-under 138. Marisa Baena (69), Tina Fischer (71), Laura Diaz and Moira Dunn (68) were 5 under, 15-year-old Michelle Wie (71) was 4 under and 18-year-old Paula Creamer shot a 73, leaving her another shot behind at 141.
Wendy Ward, from Edwall, Wash., shot 5-over 77 for a two-day total 7-over 151. Ward missed the cut.
Tracy Hanson, from Rathdrum, Idaho, shot a 3-over 75 for a two-day total 7-over 151. Hanson also missed the cut.
PGA Tour
Robert Allenby can’t make a fist with his right hand when he wakes up in the morning because of a mysterious swelling that has pained him for months. It would seem a debilitating ailment for a golfer, yet the Australian was able to get enough grip on his game to shoot a 6-under 65 and take the second-round lead in the Booz Allen Classic in Bethesda, Md.
Allenby’s round was the best of the day on a surprisingly player-friendly Blue Course at Congressional Country Club, giving him a 9-under 133 and a two-stroke advantage over first-round leader Matt Gogel, Lee Westwood and fellow Australians Adam Scott and Steve Elkington.
Gogel, who has struggled much of the year, shot an improbable course-record 63 with a 7 a.m. tee time Thursday, but he couldn’t keep that pace in a second round of 72 that included three birdies and four bogeys.
Gogel missed seven of 14 fairways and put his tee shot in the trees at No. 8, where he had made such a clinical birdie the day before.
“If you don’t hit fairways out here, you’re going to have a hard time hitting greens,” Gogel said.
Defending champion Scott was tied for second after a 67 – he’s been in the 60s all six rounds he’s played in the Booz Allen over two years – while Ernie Els (67) was tied for sixth with Paul Goydos (69), Shigeki Maruyama (67), Tommy Armour III (68) and Jim Furyk (69).
All will return today to chase the Australian with the swollen hand.
“I hope he has some more problems with his hands,” Elkington joked, “at least on the weekend.”
Champions Tour
R.W. Eaks shanked a sand wedge on the third hole, then shot a season-best, 7-under 65 to take the early first-round lead in the Champions Tour’s Bayer Advantage Classic in Overland Park, Kan.
Jim Ahern opened with a 66, and hometown favorite Tom Watson, playing with Jack Nicklaus on a course the Golden Bear designed, was in a group at 67 along with Dana Quigley, Rodger Davis, Don Pohl, Lonnie Nielsen, Gary McCord, Mark McNulty and another Kansas City native, Jim Colbert.
Play was suspended for 1 hour, 24 minutes when rain and wind blew through this suburb south of Kansas City, causing several players to finish late. The same storm system on Wednesday night uprooted trees in the area and destroyed the media tent at the Nicklaus Golf Club at LionsGate.