Sweden’s Helen Alfredsson fired a career-best 10-under 62 on Thursday to seize a two-stroke lead after the first round of the LPGA Sybase Classic.
Alfredsson holed out for an eagle from 68 yards on her second hole and finished the day two in front of Brittany Lincicome of the US.
Alfredsson, who had nine birdies and one bogey to go with her eagle, posted the lowest round on the LPGA tour this season and left three-time defending champion Lorena Ochoa with a lot of work to do to claim a fourth-straight title in the event.
PHOTO: AP
Ochoa, who has lifted this trophy at two different venues, was nine shots off the lead.
Ochoa overcame a four-shot deficit in this event three years ago, when it was played at Wykagyl in New York.
Ochoa is trying to join Sweden’s Annika Sorenstam and England’s Laura Davies as the only women to win the same LPGA tournament four years in a row.
Sorenstam won the Mizuno Classics five straight years from 2001 to 2005, while Davies won the Standard Register PING four times in a row from 1994 to 1997.
Alfredsson, 44, started on the back nine and eagled the 11th, birdied 12 and chipped in from the edge of the green on 13 for birdie.
She bogeyed 15, then picked up a shot on one, where she made one of eight birdies from inside 8 feet.
Lincicome, winner of the first major of the year, the Kraft Nabisco last month, needed just 25 putts.
She drained two 15-foot putts and one 30-footer and didn’t need a putt at all when she chipped in for eagle from 17 yards at the par-five 18th.
Lincicome said one her goals now that she has won a major is to become more consistent.
Since her triumph at Rancho Mirage she missed the cut at the Corona Championship and tied for 63rd last week.
“I really would like to learn how to be like Annika, be like Lorena and be more consistent and be at the top of the leaderboard every week,” Lincicome said. “That would be nice.”
Taiwan’s Amy Hung shot a two-under 70 for a share of 13th place, compatriots Yani Tseng and Candie Kung both carded one-under 71 to be tied for 25th place, while Teresa Lu shot a six-over 78 and is well out of contention.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY STAFF WRITER
■TEXAS OPEN
AFP, SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS
Three-time champion Justin Leonard and unheralded Paul Goydos fired seven-under 63s on Thursday to share the first-round lead at the USPGA Texas Open.
Goydos, who hadn’t captured a first-round lead since 1999, made eight birdies before his final drive sailed into a fairway bunker and cost him a shot.
He topped the leaderboard alone for much of the day until Leonard birdied three of his last four holes.
Goydos took some time off earlier this year after his ex-wife, Wendy, died unexpectedly in January.
She had fought drug addiction linked to her long battle with severe migraine headaches and Goydos just this month publicly discussed her death and the changes to his life with their two teenage daughters.
Jeff Maggert, Australian Marc Leishman and Ted Purdy shared third on 64, with England’s Brian Davis and Greg Owen a further stroke back on 65.
Former major champions David Duval, Lee Janzen and Corey Pavin were among a group of eight players three off the pace on 66 — for Duval his best round since January 2007.
Defending champion Zach Johnson, who lifted the trophy last October before the tournament was moved to its new spot in the calendar, was among a group on 68.
■IRISH OPEN
REUTERS, BALTRAY, IRELAND
Italy’s Francesco Molinari defied bad weather on Thursday to break the County Louth course record in the Irish Open first round with a nine-under 63.
Rain and murky conditions could not prevent Molinari breaking the record by a shot to lie one stroke ahead of Swede Johan Edfors.
While Molinari and Edfors excelled over the Baltray links, it proved a poor afternoon for three-times major champion Padraig Harrington. Harrington is 10 shots off the lead and is also six strokes behind his compatriot, Shane Lowry, the leading Irish player.
The Swede revealed an Irish connection that has benefited him this week.
“One of my sponsors is an Irish pub called the Dubliner,” Edfors said. “The owner was the only one to help me out when I was struggling on the Challenge Tour. It means I come over and play a lot of courses like this week, so I’m used to links.”
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