On Hold

Shin Catapults Into Lead With Late Birdie Before Play Called

Southern Pines, N.C. – Finally, a day without horns blowing and thunder roaring.

Electricity? The only lightning was emanating from the golfers, not the atmosphere.

Lorena Ochoa moved into contention Saturday, shooting a second-round 71 and making four birdies through 11 holes of the third round at the 2007 U.S. Women's Open. (John Mummert/USGA)

A Saturday that looked bleak from a weather forecast point of view, turned into a full day of activity on the course at Pine Needles Lodge & Golf Club. From 7:30 a.m. until darkness halted play at 8:05 p.m., the 2007 U.S. Women’s Open was in full championship mode, meaning golfers played and spectators watched. Nobody had to run for cover or turn on the Weather Channel.

The suspended second round was completed by mid-afternoon, and all 67 players who made the cut completed at least nine holes for the third round. It made for a long day, especially for those who had an entire second round to complete.

But as day morphed into dusk, the leaderboard started getting lit up with red, as if it were a pre-July 4 fireworks show.

World No. 1 Lorena Ochoa, Cristie Kerr and 19-year-old Korean Ji-Yai Shin all made major strides on a Moving Day that began a few hours later than normal.

Second-round leader Angela Park, 19, of Brazil slipped back a stroke, but remained solidly in contention with 2007 Kraft Nabisco champion Morgan Pressel and 2004 U.S. Girls’ Junior champion Julieta Granada hot in pursuit.

Shin, who stood at 3-under 139 through 36 holes, grabbed a one-stroke lead at five under. She had completed 10 holes.

But Kerr and Ochoa were the two hottest golfers on the course. Kerr was five under for the round and four under for the championship through 13 holes, while Ochoa birdied holes nine and 10 to get to four under overall through 11 holes.

Park dropped one stroke through 10 holes and was at four under, with Pressel (minus-two for round) at three under and Granada (plus-one) at two under. Playing in the same group with 2002 U.S. Girls’ Junior In-Bee Park, they had completed 11 holes.

The third round will resume at 7:30 a.m., with television coverage provided by ESPN2 at 8 a.m. until the round ends. The final round will start approximately at 10:45 a.m. The plan is to re-pair the players and have 11-minute intervals for starting times, with threesomes going off the first and 10th tees.

As fate would have it, the heavens erupted about 20 minutes after play was halted for the day. Heavy rains and thunder roared through Pine Needles about the time most of the competitors had been evacuated from the course.

Kerr had been plodding along through the first half of the championship, but the hot streak started with back-to-back birdies at four and five. She added birdies at seven and nine to make the turn at 4-under 31, sharing the lowest nine-hole score of the championship with 17-year-old amateur Mina Harigae, who shot that score in Thursday’s first round. Kerr added a fifth birdie at No. 11 before making pars at 12 and 13.

"I worked with my coach a little bit after the second round," said the 29-year-old Kerr, winner of nine LPGA Tour events, but still seeking her first major championship. "I hit two bags of balls in the hot weather and went home, took a shower, changed and came back.

"It’s been a very long day of golf. I’m looking forward to the rest tonight and I’m just trying to do the best I can and honestly not put too much pressure on myself."

Like Kerr, Ochoa also is looking for that elusive first major. She owns 12 career LPGA Tour wins and three this year, including last week’s Wegmans event in Rochester, N.Y. She birdied two of her first three holes, then holed an 8-footer at nine and a 15-footer at the par-5 10th to reach four under par. That put in a tie with Kerr, Park and Shin, until the latter birdied 10 to get to five under.

"I would love to do it," said Ochoa of possibly getting into the final grouping on Sunday. "It’s always good to be in the last group. We’ll see. That’s going to be my goal. It’s kind of like too hard thinking too far ahead. I have seven holes left in the morning. That’s going to be my focus."