Lorena Ochoa struggled in the first round in her own Lorena Ochoa Invitational, shooting a 1-over 73 on her home course to drop five strokes behind Annika Sorenstam and the other leaders on Thursday.
“I can’t say I’m happy, because I’m not, but I feel like I can get closer. I hope to do it tomorrow,” said Ochoa, who took up the game 21 years ago at Guadalajara Country Club. “It’s a good pressure to play here, to feel the good vibes, and the love of my fans. I feel motivated because I know that we have three more days to play.”
US LPGA Championship winner Yani Tseng (曾雅妮), No. 2 in the world behind Ochoa and ahead of Sorenstam, topped the leaderboard at 68 along with Sorenstam, Angela Stanford, Karen Stupples, Lee Seon-hwa, Nicole Castrale, Han Hee-won and Brittany Lang.
PHOTO: AFP
Ochoa has two victories — the 2006 and 2008 Corona Championship — in nine US LPGA Tour starts in Mexico. She has seven victories in 20 tour starts this year and leads the money list with US$2,738,888.
“I was off rhythm, especially on my second shot, and that took away the chances of birdies,” Ochoa said. “I will take another round of practice later on so tomorrow can be a better day.”
Ochoa bogeyed Nos. 4 and 6 to make the turn at 2-over 38. She birdied the par-5 10th, bogeyed the 15th and closed with a birdie on the par-5 18th.
PHOTO: AP
“It was hard to concentrate with the comments from the crowd and me trying to play good,” Ochoa said. “But I think I was able to control the pressure fine and, hopefully, do better the next few days.”
Sorenstam, leaving the tour at the end of the season, birdied five of the first 13 holes to take the lead at 5 under, but missed shot par putts on 14 and 16 before rallying with a birdie on 18.
“There is really not much to talk about,” Sorenstam said. “I missed two short putts. I tried to move on and not to think too much about it.”
The Swedish star is coming off a playoff victory two weeks ago in a Ladies European Tour event in China. She has three US LPGA Tour victories this season.
“Today was a good day,” Sorenstam said. “Now I will need another three to go with it and see what happens. Once I step inside the ropes, I enjoy the competition. It’s just so hard to prepare the way I used to. The fire is just not there. That’s what I’m fighting every day, but the competitive side has not disappeared.”
Stupples, the 35-year-old English player looking for her first victory since the 2004 Women’s British Open, birdied the first three holes and holed a 60-degree wedge from 70 yards for eagle on the 364-yard 14th.
She played with a broken middle toe on her right foot.
Taiwan’s Teresa Lu (盧曉晴) shot 72 and Candie Kung (龔怡萍) carded a 2-over 74.
■ SINGAPORE OPEN
AFP, SINGAPORE
A resurgent Ernie Els stormed into contention with a hard-fought 70 for a share of the lead alongside England’s Simon Dyson on another weather-marred day at the Singapore Open yesterday.
It was a long slog for the big South African who had to come out at daybreak to finish four holes from his first round, after being forced off the fairways by bad light on Thursday.
He wasted no time in sinking two birdies to take the outright first round lead before teeing off again almost immediately for round two, where he mixed three birdies and two bogeys to be on six-under-par 136 going into the weekend.
He shares the lead with Dyson, who stroked a majestic four-under-par 67.
Both players completed their rounds shortly before play was halted at 2:38pm as lightning lit up the sky. Torrential rain followed with the players returning for an hour at the end of the day.
Seventy-eight players have yet to finish their rounds.
South Africa’s David Frost was disqualified after failing to turn up for the resumption of play after the rain break.
Taiwan’s Lu Wei-chih (呂偉智) carded 72, while Lu Wen-teh (呂文德) shot 72.
Bologna on Thursday advanced past Empoli to reach their first Coppa Italia final in more than half a century. Thijs Dallinga’s 87th-minute header earned Bologna a 2-1 win and his side advanced 5-1 on aggregate. Giovanni Fabbian opened the scoring for Bologna with a header seven minutes in. Then Viktor Kovalenko equalized for Empoli in the 30th minute by turning in a rebound to finish off a counterattack. Bologna won the first leg 3-0. In the May 14 final in Rome, Bologna are to face AC Milan, who eliminated city rivals Inter 4-1 on aggregate following a 3-0 win on Wednesday. Bologna last reached the
If the Wild finally break through and win their first playoff series in a decade, Minnesota’s top line likely will be the reason. They were all over the Golden Knights through the first two games of their NHL Western Conference quarter-finals series, which was 1-1 going back to Minnesota for Game 3 today. The Wild tied the series with a 5-2 win on Tuesday. Matt Boldy had three goals and an assist in the first two games, while Kirill Kaprizov produced two goals and three assists. Joel Eriksson Ek, who centers the line, has yet to get on the scoresheet. “I think the biggest
From a commemorative jersey to a stadium in his name, Argentine soccer organizers are planning a slew of tributes to their late “Captain” Pope Francis, eulogized as the ultimate team player. Tributes to the Argentine pontiff, a lifelong lover of the game, who died on Monday at the age of 88, have been peppered with soccer metaphors in his homeland. “Francisco. What a player,” the Argentine Football Federation (AFA) said, describing the first pope from Latin America and the southern hemisphere as a generational talent who “never hogged the ball” and who showed the world “the importance of having an Argentine captain,
Noelvi Marte on Sunday had seven RBIs and hit his first career grand slam with a drive off infielder Jorge Mateo, while Austin Wynn had a career-high six RBIs as the Cincinnati Reds scored their most runs in 26 years in a 24-2 rout of the Baltimore Orioles. Marte finished with five hits, including his eighth-inning homer off Mateo. Wynn hit a three-run homer in the ninth off catcher Gary Sanchez. Cincinnati scored its most runs since a 24-12 win against the Colorado Rockies on May 19, 1999, and finished with 25 hits. Baltimore allowed its most runs since a 30-3 loss to
RSS