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Forget record, she needs to make cut

Annika Sorenstam of Sweden chips up to the ninth green on way to a birdie, a rare highlight during a miserable round. (Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)
Associated Press
Annika Sorenstam of Sweden chips up to the ninth green on way to a birdie, a rare highlight during a miserable round. (Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)

There’s a Swede in the lead at the Michelob Ultra Open.

No, not that one.

Trying to become the first LPGA player to win six straight tournaments, Annika Sorenstam instead had one of her worst rounds in recent memory Thursday at Williamsburg, Va. She shot a 5-over-par 76, leaving her nine strokes behind leaders Silvia Cavalleri and Swede Catrin Nilsmark.

“I don’t know what to say about this round,” Sorenstam said. “I thought I played pretty good today. It just didn’t go my way at all.”

No, it didn’t. Sorenstam’s score was her highest in relation to par since a 5-over 77 in the second round of the 2002 British Open. That, by the way, was also the last time she missed a cut. She shot a 76 in the second round of the Kraft Nabisco Championship last year, but par was 72.

It also was her highest score in an opening round since a 76 in the 2000 Rochester International, and it ended a stretch of 43 rounds at par or better.

“I can’t remember it. And I don’t want to remember it,” Sorenstam said when asked the last time she had a round this bad. “I just want to move forward. I’ve got to go low the next three days, and I know I can do it.”

She’s going to have to today if she wants to play this weekend. The top 70 players and ties make the cut, and 82 are at 2-over or better.

Nilsmark and Cavalleri are leading at 4-under 67.

Wendy Ward of Edwall, Wash., opened with a 70.

PGA Tour

Sergio Garcia fired a 6-under 66 and took a two-shot lead in the Wachovia Championship at Charlotte, N.C.

Garcia broke by two shots the back-nine record at Quail Hollow with a 30, then turned a brilliant day into a minor struggle with back-to-back bogeys, including a 30-inch miss for par on the second hole.

Still, it was enough to give him a two-shot lead over defending champion Joey Sindelar, Kenny Perry, Patrick Sheehan and Richard Johnson of Sweden.

“Don’t get me wrong – I’m happy about my score,” Garcia said. “But I feel I only got 60 percent out of my round.”

Tiger Woods, playing for the first time since his victory in The Masters, shot a 70.