Annika Sorenstam takes 3-shot lead in US Senior Women´s Open
FAIRFIELD, Conn. (AP) - Annika Sorenstam shot a 3-under 69, racing to finish before dark, to take a three-stroke lead Friday in the U.S. Senior Women´s Open.
The 50-year-old Sorenstam, a three-time U.S. Women´s Open champion making her first appearance in the senior event, birdied Nos. 7-9 to get to 8 under and closed with pars on Nos. 1 and 2 at Brooklawn Country Club.
Sorenstam has hit 32 of 36 greens in regulation, with husband Mike McGee working as her caddie.
"I´m super-pleased, I really am," Sorenstam said. "The driver today was maybe not as sharp, but my irons were really on spot. Mike and I think we have a good system in trying to figure out where to go, and of course the rain last night makes the greens quite receptive, so I was able to fire more at the holes today."
Playing partner and fellow Swede Liselotte Neumann was second, birdieing the final two holes for a 69. She won the 1988 U.S. Women´s Open to become the first Swedish major champion.
"That´s what I´ve been working for, just trying to be somewhere close to the lead going into the weekend, that´s what you hope for," Neumann said. "I´ve been trying to spend a lot time on the golf course lately, so I´m extremely happy."
Fifteen players were unable to finish the round. The first-round was completed Friday morning after rain prevented half the field from finishing Thursday.
Amateur Ellen Port (69) and Yuko Saito (70) were 4 under. The 59-year-old Port, a teacher in St. Louis, is a seven-time USGA champion.
"I´ve had a lot of practice with mental toughness and fighting through, trying to score," Port said. "My swing was in a little better place coming into this. It was just starting to trend that way, and you never know it if it´s going to all come together. I knew it was at some point; I didn´t know if it would be this week."
Rosie Jones (70), Kris Tschetter (72) and Dana Ebster (74) were 3 under. Catriona Matthew was the only other player under par. She was 2 under with three holes left.
Tschetter played a five-hole stretch in 5 under - capped by an eagle on the par-5 eighth - to offset two double bogeys and a bogey.
Ebster, tied with Sorenstam for the first-round lead after a 67, is a part-time golf instructor and assistant coach at Modesto Junior College in California.
Past champions Helen Alfredsson (72) and Laura Davies (75) were 2 over. Davies was in the group with Sorenstam and Neumann.
Juli Inkster was 3 over after a 74.
JoAnne Carner, at 82 the oldest player to compete in a USGA championship, shot a 78 to miss the cut at 18 under. She opened with an 82. She played alongside Port and seven-time USGA champion Carol Semple Thompson.
"I was trying to make the cut, but I just hit too many bad shots," Carner said. "I would hit a really good shot and then two holes later I would drop-kick it. It was just very erratic for me."
