Sorenstam opens Mizuno

Fri., Nov. 3, 2006

Associated Press The Spokesman-Review

MIE, Japan – Annika Sorenstam opened her bid for an LPGA Tour record sixth straight Mizuno Classic title today with a 1-under 71, leaving the Swedish star six strokes behind first-round leader Rachel Hetherington.

Coming off a six-stroke victory Sunday in the Ladies European Tour’s Dubai Ladies Masters, Sorenstam birdied the par-5 13th to reach 3 under, but bogeyed the next two holes and closed with three pars on the Kashikojima Country Club course.

Sorenstam won the tournament the last four years on the Seta Golf Course in Otsu after taking the 2001 event at Musashigaoka.

Last year, Sorenstam became the first player in LPGA Tour history to win a tournament five straight times and matched the tour record she shares with Mickey Wright for victories in an event. In the Samsung Championship last month in her last LPGA Tour start, Sorenstam lost a final-round lead to Lorena Ochoa in an unsuccessful bid to become the first tour player to win an event six times.

Ex-Duke star Brittany Lang was three strokes back at 68, along with Paraguay’s Julieta Granada and Japan’s Mitsuko Kawasaki and Rui Kitada. Australia’s Karrie Webb, seeking her fifth tour victory of the year, was in a 14-player group at 69 that included 21-year-old Japanese star Ai Miyazato.

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Sorenstam opens Mizuno

Jesse Tinsley

Jim Meehan

Molly Quinn

Rob Curley

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