Notebook: Gibson Answers Unexpected Call To Duty

Southern Pines, N.C. - Janice Gibson was parked in the Pine Needles parking lot at 6:45 a.m. Thursday when the call came. Brandie Burton, the 1989 U.S. Girls’ Junior champion, had withdrawn 30 minutes earlier. Burton slipped and tweaked her right ankle at the private home she was renting, and then re-injured the ankle at the golf course, forcing her to withdraw from her 17th U.S. Women’s Open.

Gibson, a 46-year-old professional from Tulsa, Okla., happened to be the first alternate from the Rockville, Md., sectional site where Burton had qualified. She took a chance at coming to the Open, hoping one of the 37 qualifiers from that site would withdraw. Three other alternates – Cydney Clanton, Lindy Duncan and Taylore Karle – were on site in case one of the fully exempt competitors withdrew.

"I hit about five balls before I played this morning," said Gibson after shooting an 11-over-par 82. "I just threw some down real quick and hit some."

This was Gibson’s seventh Women’s Open over a 23-year period. She had made one cut: the 1984 championship at Salem (Mass.) Country Club.

As Gibson approached her 7 a.m. starting time, her caddie had not arrived. So Pat McGowan, the director of instruction at Pine Needles, took Gibson’s bag for one hole before local resort caddie Jason Phillips caught the group on the second hole. The Rules of Golf allow for a player to substitute a caddie at any time during a stipulated round.

"He just happened to be right there by his house and they rounded him up to caddie for a hole and until Jason could get here and Jason brought the yardage book," said Gibson. "I had not ever played the course, [so] I had a problem trusting things myself. And the greens are very quick."

Burton was returning to the site of her greatest triumph, having won the ’89 Girls’ Junior at Pine Needles and finishing tied for third at the 1996 Women’s Open here.

Ouch!

Don’t look for three-time USGA champion Kelli Kuehne to take out her frustrations on her golf bag anymore. Or least with her feet. Frustrated by back-to-back double bogeys at seven and eight, Kuehne decided to treat her bag like a soccer ball.

"[I] almost broke my toe," said Kuehne, who wound up with a 3-over 74. "I don’t think I’ll be kicking my bag any more. I felt it for a hole or two.

"It’s a hiccup. I went from even par to four over in a matter of about 20 minutes. That’s not a very productive 20 minutes."

Turnaround

Some players this week may never figure out the intricacies of Donald Ross’ 79-year-old layout. Mina Harigae, 17, of Monterey, Calif., apparently needed just nine holes.

Just five days removed from winning the U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links title in Lexington, Ky., Harigae made her U.S. Women’s Open debut with an outward nine of 41.

Nerves settled, she made birdies on four of her final seven holes to shoot a 1-over 72.

"My first nine I was really nervous," she said. "I just couldn’t really get my head in the game. Then I was like ‘I’m not really playing for money, I’m just having fun.’ So I felt more comfortable on the back nine definitely."

I’ll Take That One

A few weeks ago, while the rest of the LPGA Tour was playing the Sybase Classic in Montclair, N.J., former USA Curtis Cupper Cristie Kerr was competing in the Korea Open. Her putting was woeful, so after the second round of that event, she walked into a local golf shop and started trying out various putters. She found one she liked and purchased it. She went on to shoot three under and then brought it back to the U.S. for the Ginn Tribute in Charleston, S.C.

Kerr immediately found her equipment rep and asked if the club set up properly for her because it felt good.

"I’ll buy every putter if I putt that well with it," said Kerr following her even-par 71.

When asked if her equipment company eventually reimbursed her for the purchased, Kerr added: "No. I’m happy to donate [the money]."

Wild Day For Ochoa

Lorena Ochoa shot an even-par 71, but it was an eventful round with an eagle, birdie, bogey and double-bogey added to 14 pars. It’s the second time Ochoa has opened with an even-par round in seven Women’s Opens, the last coming in 2003 at Pumpkin Ridge (T-13).

"That's been my goal since the beginning of the year in Hawaii, just to make sure I get a couple good rounds and then usually when I start OK, good, I have more chances," Ochoa said after her round. "So to me tomorrow's a very important day. To play in the afternoon and get here and post a good round and I'm in a good position for the weekend and have a good chance."

Ochoa’s eagle came when she holed out a bunker shot from the fairway at the par-4 14th. The 2 moved Ochoa to two under par and within a shot of Angela Park’s lead.

"I had a really good feeling and I told [my caddie] Dave [Brooker] I was almost like joking, ‘Can I hit my 5-wood, please?’ Because I knew he wanted to talk to me about hitting my 7-wood," said Ochoa. "And I said, ‘Just trust me, I like this one.’ And I hit it perfect and just nice high fade and I guess it was very nice to just hear the crowd clapping and getting louder and louder and it was very special."

As quickly as she moved up the leader board, Ochoa gave all those strokes back at No. 17 when her approach shot sailed through an opening in the grandstands and out of bounds.

First-Tee Butterflies 

It is hard to believe that a major champion still has some jitters on the first tee, but 2007 Kraft Nabisco champion Morgan Pressel admitted as much after shooting an even-par 71.

Beginning on No. 10, Pressel posted back-to-back bogeys on holes 13 and 14 before recovering with a birdie at the par-5 15th. Making the turn at one over, Pressel would make another birdie at the par-3 third hole, and then had a bogey-birdie exchange at Nos. 5 and 6 before finishing with three consecutive pars.

"I had opportunities, but there are a lot of times when you really just have to play to the fat part of the green and you kind of almost are forced to leave yourself with a tough, long putt," said Pressel, who was 13 when she competed at Pine Needles six years ago.

"I’ll take my round today and move on and hopefully maybe just play a little bit better every day. Two over after what, five holes, I had a little stress there. But I got calmed down and got a couple of birdies, so I was a little better."

David Shefter is a USGA staff writer and Alex Miceli is a writer for the Golf Press Association.