TUCSON, Ariz. - Jung Yeon Lee never realized she had two chances to become the second LPGA Tour player to shoot 59.
The 25-year-old matched the second-lowest round in tour history Thursday, carding 10-under-par 60 to take a three-shot lead in the season-opening Welch's/Fry's Championship.
But Lee missed a 20-foot birdie putt from the fringe on the 17th hole and a 10-footer on the 18th.
"My caddie (Colin Cann) told me," Lee said. "Yeah, 59. I said, "What?"'
The three lowest scores have come in Arizona.
Annika Sorenstam's 13-under 59 during the second round at Phoenix's Moon Valley Country Club in 2001 remains the LPGA standard for raw score and score in relation to par. Meg Mallon had 60 in Tucson last year, the first for the event on the Dell Urich Course in Randolph Park.
Laura Davies said everyone in the field watched Lee's red numbers go up.
"We were hoping she was going to make one more," Davies said. "I guess she had three chances in the last three holes to do it. That's a shame; it would have been nice to see."
Karen Stupples was second with 63, with Davies and rookie Seol-An Jeon at 65. Beth Bauer, who lives at the Eagles in Odessa, shot 73.
PGA TOUR: All those worried about tough greens and high numbers in the Honda Classic must have wondered whether Carl Pettersson played the wrong course at Mirasol.
Pettersson was in the right place, and conditions could not have been better at Palm Beach Gardens. The result was 9-under 63, giving him a two-stroke lead and leaving everyone else thankful tour officials went easy on them with the way the Sunrise Course was set up.
"It wasn't playing as tough as it could have," he said. "They've got the pins in slightly easier spots. They could put them in ridiculous places. Glad they didn't."
Mark Hensby, who faced slightly stronger breezes late in the afternoon, birdied four straight holes late in his round for 65. Steve Flesch, Jesper Parnevik and Rory Sabbatini were another stroke back.
Sunrise played so difficult during the pro-am round Wednesday, when a strong wind came out of the opposite direction, that some were bracing for the worst.
"I think the only reason the golf course was playable today was the tour officials did an outstanding job of setting up the golf course," said John Riegger, among those at 67.
Most hole locations on tour courses are four paces from the edge. There were three such placements in the round, which helps because the elevated greens drop off severely on all sides.
"We're trying to err on the conservative side," rules official Tony Wallin said. "The course is young. It only opened in November. It's hard, dry and fast. And if you err on the nonconservative side, that's when you really get in trouble, because then things can just go crazy."
EUROPEAN PGA: Six players shared the lead after the first round of the Qatar Masters in Doha. Matthew Blackey, Paul Broadhurst, Nobuhito Sato, Martin Wiegele, Andrew Oldcorn and Pierre Fulke each shot 4-under 68. Eight were a stroke back.
LOVE'S GIFT: Davis Love donated his $700,000 from finishing second at the Match Play Championship to his church, St. Simons Presbyterian Church on St. Simons Island, Ga. "It hits you that there are more important things than golf," Love said. He lost to Tiger Woods in the final match at La Costa two weeks ago. Love was heckled by a fan during a pivotal stretch of the 36-hole match. The fan kept saying "No Love" as Love prepared to play. Love finally confronted him on the fifth tee. He refused to resume the match until the culprit was identified and taken out of the gallery.
