Golf

Sorenstam leads by 2

After misplaying 16, she birdies 17 and 18 to cap an efficient round of 4 under par. It was the good start she hoped for in the LPGA's first major.

©Associated Press
March 28, 2003

RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif. -- Annika Sorenstam began the day thinking par would be a very good score. Then the wind died down, the birdies started coming and she found herself in a familiar place at the Kraft Nabisco.

Sorenstam shot 4-under 68 Thursday to take a two-shot lead over Karrie Webb and three others after one round of the first LPGA Tour major championship of the year.

Trying to become the first woman in 64 years to win the same major championship three years in a row, Sorenstam birdied the final two holes in a round that was efficient even by the standards of the most dominant player in women's golf.

"Now I feel comfortable," she said. "Getting off to a good start is important. I know you can't win tournaments like this on the first day, but you can lose them."

Sorenstam's only mistakes came at the 16th hole when she nearly pulled an 8-iron shot out of bounds, then mangled a flop shot. But she came right back to knock it to 12 feet on the par-3 17th for birdie and followed that with a scrambling birdie on the par-5 18th.

For playing partner Patricia Meunier-Lebouc, it was fun just to be in the same group.

"She's going to play well so it's motivating," Meunier-Lebouc said. "She seems so relaxed on the course, yet at the same time so aggressive. She's really balanced."

Meunier-Lebouc, who played with Sorenstam over the weekend at Phoenix, was one of those two shots back. Also there were Laura Davies and Michele Redman.

Another shot back at 71 was a group that included Se Ri Pak, who beat Sorenstam Sunday in Phoenix.

Sorenstam, who hasn't had a lot of success in majors but has won this tournament the last two years, got an early start when the wind was still whipping around the course at Mission Hills Country Club, then took advantage when the winds died down.

"When we teed off this morning it was very, very windy," Sorenstam said. "I read the weather forecast and I thought it was going to get worse. I was really looking at par as a great score today."

Sorenstam had posted her score by the time the late groups teed off.

Players found the 6,520-yard course playing shorter than usual because the ball was running and the greens were firm.

Davies, who could complete a career grand slam by winning here, was a little disappointed the rough wasn't deeper, but said the firmness of the greens more than made up for it.

"We were trying to hit it on the front of the greens and we knew it would bounce up," she said.

Sorenstam said the rough was plenty deep, though she only found it twice in a round that featured birdies on the ninth and 10th holes and again on the finishing holes.

"I was hitting out of my shoes to go anywhere," she said. "Maybe it's not as high, but it feels very healthy and very thick."

While Sorenstam had the lead, she had to compete for the gallery with long-hitting 13-year-old Michelle Wie. The eighth-grader from Hawaii consistently powered tee shots over 300 yards, outdriving her playing partners by 50 or 60 yards, on her way to par 72.

"I had a really good time," Wie said. "Natalie (Gulbis) and Christina (Kim) were really nice to me."

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