By Ken Klavon, USGA

Cherry Hills Village, Colo. – Angela Stanford isn’t quite sure why the U.S. Women’s Open seems to bring the best out in her. And amateur Brittany Lang couldn’t pinpoint why her name is atop the leaderboard.

Either way, both share a tie of the lead after weather delayed the first round of the championship. Forty-eight players will be summoned back beginning at 7 a.m. Friday. With the two-tee start, the second round will also begin at the same time.

Angela Stanford said she felt her emotions going all over the place Thursday. (Sam Greenwood/USGA)

Lang and Stafford led the field with 2-under-par 69s. European Karine Icher also settled at 2 under, but she still had four holes to play when the siren sounded. Four players – Natalie Gulbis, 1988 wire-to-wire champion Liselotte Neumann, 2001 U.S. Girls’ Junior champion Nicole Perrot and Young-A Yang -- carded 1-under 70s.

And defending champion Meg Mallon and two-timer winner Annika Sorenstam were among four who finished at even-par 71.

The 6,749-yard, par-71 layout proved Thursday that it can giveth and taketh away, even bringing one to tears. A prime example of that was the round 17-year-old Morgan Pressel put together. The top-ranked junior in the country streaked to a 4-under 32 on her front nine before settling back at even-par 71.

"I’m a little upset because I had it going pretty well and it fell apart on me," said a teary-eyed Pressel, faltering with three bogeys and one double bogey on her back nine.

"It would have been nice to stay up. I play with a lot of emotion and sometimes it helps me; sometimes like today it may have hurt me a little bit."

Emotionally speaking, Stanford felt a high after birdieing three of her first five holes. A gap wedge that left her 5 feet from the hole on No. 5 led to her third birdie of the day. Yet by the time she made the turn, her red number disappeared thanks to bogeys on three of the last four holes. She often-times gave her self a chance by staying out of the penal rough (12 fairways in regulation) and finding the green (14 in regulation).

"It is emotional, an emotional roller-coaster," said Stanford, enduring a bumpy LPGA season thus far.

It doesn’t explain why she’s elevated her game for this championship two of the three past Opens.

"Maybe just a lot of it is how I feel about the golf course," she said. "Maybe it’s just that I am more level-headed this week."

Lang, one of 18 amateurs in the field, had held the outright lead at 3 under until reaching the brutal, uphill 18th hole -- the same hole that no one has birdied, leading to a 4.70 scoring average. Lang had 220 yards to the hole when she opted for a 3-wood. The ball went far right, striking the bleachers. She two-putted from 25 feet to take bogey.

Brittany Lang lines up her putt on the 11th hole Thursday. She took 31 putts during her first round. (Sam Greenwood/USGA)

No one would have blamed her had she done it on her starting hole, because nerves had her literally shaking, she said. Instead, on that hole, the 2004 USA Curtis Cupper knocked her lob wedge to a foot and walked away with a birdie.

When she sank her 7-footer to go 3 under on the seventh hole, she noticed her name atop the leaderboard. It didn’t matter much to her that she’s an amateur, either. Incidentally, the last and only amateur to win the event was in 1967 by Catherine Lacoste.

"We’re all friends," said Lang, a member of the national championship Duke women’s golf team, of her brethren. "We want to beat the pros as much as we want to beat each other."

Within the hunt is Sorenstam, who is trying to win the third leg of the Grand Slam this season. Also citing nerves on her first hole, No. 10, Sorenstam started shaky with a bogey. But then she rattled off three consecutive par saves that were nothing short of miraculous.

She made a tough shot out of a greenside bunker on No. 11 and then drained a 7-footer the next hole. A tricky putt on the undulating 13th green brought a sigh of relief.

"If I wouldn’t have made any of them then it would be a totally different situation," said Sorenstam.

Asked why she would be nervous, she searched for an answer. "U.S. Open, lots of people, tough golf course, a lot on my mind," she said.

Gulbis started strong, jumping to 3 under after her first five holes. Her birdie putts on No. 1 and 5 were from 15 feet or longer. On the par 5 fifth, drained a 20-footer from the back fringe. Her round was otherwise up and down as she registered six birdies, seven pars and five bogeys.

"It didn’t seem up and down," said Gulbis, hoping to improve on a 13th-place finish in 2003, the best of her Open career. "I had a couple of three-putts, which didn’t help."

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