USC Alums Go Low

Top Three Positions Filled By Ex-Trojans, But Sorenstam Is Lurking

By Ken Klavon, USGA

South Hadley, Mass. - It must say something for the University of Southern California golf program. That's because the top three positions on the leader board at the 59th U.S. Women's Open are filled with former Trojans.

Jennifer Rosales seized control of the leader board with a sizzling 4-under 67 for a 36-hole total of 5-under 137, one stroke ahead of Candie Kung and Kim Saiki. Both Saiki and Kung, who won the 1983 U.S. Girls' Junior and 2001 U.S. Women's Amateur Public Links titles, respectively, each carded 3-under 68s on the 6,473-yard, par-71 Orchards Golf Club layout.

They weren't the only ones going low. Swedes Carin Koch and Annika Sorenstam inched closer to the top with solid rounds. Koch carded a 4-under 67 to stand at 3 under for the championship. Meanwhile, Sorenstam, a two-time Women's Open champion, peaked at 4 under at one point, only to bogey the eighth hole, her 17th of the round, to finish at 3-under 139.

	Jennifer Rosales carded six birdies, a third of the holes, in her second round. (John Mummert/USGA)

Defending champion Hilary Lunke will play on the weekend (cut line 147), shooting a 74 for a 4-over 146 total.

Fourteen-year-old Michelle Wie shared low-amateur honors with Paula Creamer at 1-under 141. Creamer, 17, had a 69 on Friday, while Wie posted a 1-under 70 with six birdies, three bogeys and a double bogey.

Wie, who entered the championship with a goal of shooting at least 1 under each day, seemed pleased with her second round. "The scores aren't going to be ridiculously low. If I shoot 1 under, 2 under, who knows," said Wie, the 2003 Women's Amateur Public Links champion and the youngest winner of any USGA "adult" championship.

Four amateurs were among the 66 players who made the cut, including first-round leader Brittany Lincicome of Seminole, Fla. Lincicome shot 11 strokes higher on Friday, producing a 77. Her 66 on Thursday matched the lowest round by an amateur in Women's Open history. Carol Semple Thompson had a 66 in 1994.

In the meantime, Rosales, who posted her first career LPGA Tour victory earlier this year at the Chick Fil-A outside of Atlanta, Ga., took advantage of pristine course conditions and just a slight breeze Friday morning, posting six birdies.

After the Donald Ross layout endured several thunderstorms, including one overnight, a softer course meant players could control their approaches to the tricky greens a little easier. But it didn't mean the course wasn't any more challenging.

 "The greens are receptive because of all the rain," said Sorenstam, a Hall of Fame member and winner of seven professional majors. "But you can't be aggressive because of the [flagstick] placement."

Thoughts varied on aggressiveness because the breeze picked up in the afternoon.

Said Australian Michelle Ellis, who stands just two strokes off the pace at 3-under 139, "Especially on the par 5s and par 3s, I say you could really fire at them because you knew they were going to stop [Friday] as opposed to [Thursday]."

Through the first two rounds the scoring average was 74.59 with No. 13, a par 5, by far surrendering the most eagles (14) and birdies (135). By comparison, the next-closest scoring hole, the par-5 ninth, gave up just two eagles and 63 birdies.

Similar to Angela Stanford last year, who almost rode a wave of momentum from her win at the ShopRite Classic near Atlantic City, N.J., to victory at the Women's Open at Pumpkin Ridge, Saiki is coming off a win at the Wegmans Rochester (N.Y.) LPGA. Like Stanford, it was her first career win on tour.

Over the course of the first two rounds Saiki has displayed a dazzling putting stroke, registering just 27 putts each day with 18 one-putts. Moreover, she hasn't three-putted once on the tricky Ross-designed greens.

"I feel comfortable on these greens," said Saiki, whose Girls' Junior victory came at the A.W. Tillinghast-designed Somerset Hills Country Club in Bernardsville, N.J. That course also has extremely challenging greens. "I've positioned myself well on the greens and my pace is excellent. And my visualization is just awesome."

Other than that, just call her the poster-child for confidence, especially after the win last week. Never mind that her Women's Open record is spotty, having missed eight of 12 cuts with her best finish being 25th in 1999 at Old Waverly.

"I always believed in my game, but having my first victory last week basically got the monkey off my back, and in my opinion, there's very little pressure on me now," said Saiki.

Carin Koch stayed in contention with a two-day total of 3-under 139. (John Mummert/USGA)

Kung, beginning on the front, was a model of consistency in picking up three strokes on the back. Playing in the same grouping as Wie, she holed two 25-foot chip shots (six and 15) for birdies. She also made a clutch 10-footer for par at the difficult 16th to keep the momentum going.

She breathed easier when a 15-foot putt for birdie on the par-3 10th snuck in. From 150-yards out, she used a 7-iron to run the ball up.

"That was probably the first one that I got to the hole with a putt," said Kung, winner of three LPGA events but still searching for that first major. "All the putts I had before were uphill and I left it short of the hole."

For the second consecutive day she birdied the 456-yard par-5 13th, which has been a scoring bonanza for the field.

While moving up the leader board, Kung said she didn't pay any attention to it. After all, with Wie in her group she told herself early that she couldn't allow herself to become distracted by the extra-large gallery or anything else.

"I'm just trying to play my game," said Kung, clarifying her answer by saying she's just trying to hit fairways and greens.

Another player wanting nothing to do with the scoreboard - yet anyway - was Rosales.

What does it mean to her?

"Nothing," said Rosales. "It doesn't matter until the weekend. Nothing matters until the last day."

If she keeps surging Rosales may care a little more come Sunday. After completing two holes from a suspended first round at 7 a.m., she crafted a near-perfect day.

It had been nip-and-tuck between Rosales and Sorenstam, who played one group apart the first two rounds. Rosales started on the back nine and birdied her first three holes. Sorenstam tried keeping pace with birdies at two of her first three. But Rosales would''t bend, blending supreme shot-making with a solid putter. Overall, she missed just two fairways, Nos. 14 and 15, and three greens in regulation.

"Well, the first hole I hit it really good and just made that putt," said Rosales. "And I told myself that if I made this putt, it's going to keep going until the end."

And it did. Her fingers were protected by tape due to blisters caused by gripping the clubs too tight. Yet the condition didn't seem to bother Rosales when she ran into trouble. At the par-4 fourth hole, a 421-yarder that features a challenging uphill approach to a back-to-front sloping green, Rosales played her second shot from 150 yards out conservatively to the fat part of the putting surface. The ball hit the slope and stopped 35 feet short of the hole. Her 6-foot par putt found the hole, but Rosales said she rushed the stroke and if the ball hadn't dropped, it was headed off the green.

Rosales kept chugging along by concluding the round with a 12-foot birdie on No. 9 that brought three quick steps to the right and a fist pump. For the two days, she's averaged 28.5 putts.

With a smidgen of disappointment in her voice, Sorenstam thought she let a couple of holes get away. She was another one who had to complete her first round on Friday morning - awaking at 4:30 a.m. - beginning on the treacherous par-4 16th, the toughest hole on the course. She proceeded to double bogey it when, after laying up in three, her chip spun off the green and led to a two-putt.

"It wasn't the start I had in mind," said Sorenstam. "I woke up and since then I played really well I thought."

In her second round, consistency off the tee wasn't a problem as she missed just one fairway. Too many two- and three-putts, 32 in all, left more birdie opportunities on the course than she would have liked. 

In any event, she did keep one eye on the leader board.

"I do look at the leader board," she said. "I always have. It doesn't matter what day it is. Today I don't alter my game after the leader board. I might do that on Sunday on the back nine."

Koch had to feel like she was riding a roller-coaster. Starting on the back nine, Koch posted an eagle at the 456-yard par-5 13th (her fourth hole of the round) when she used a 3-wood to knock the ball to within 3 feet of the hole.

On No. 6, she nearly had another eagle. Using a 7-iron from 125 yards out, Koch landed the ball to a foot of the hole.

"The crowd wanted to give me the putt," said Koch, who has missed two of the last three Open cuts and had to endure 36-hole sectional qualifying to get into the 2004 championship.

 "I really tried to hang in there and not get down."

Ken Klavon is the Web Editor for the USGA. E-mail him with questions or comments at kklavon@usga.org. David Shefter of the USGA contributed.