JAPAN'S SAIKI SURGES TO EVIAN MASTERS LEAD

MIKI SAIKI

EVIAN-LES-BAINS, France – Miki Saiki of Japan took a one-stroke lead at the Evian Masters on Friday, shooting a 5-under 67 in the second round to move to 9 under as the drenched course started to dry.

Saiki leads Americans Angela Stanford, whose 66 included seven birdies, and Kraft Nabisco winner Stacy Lewis (67). Also challenging at 8 under are former Evian champion Ai Miyazato of Japan, who finished with a 68, co-overnight leader Maria Hjorth of Sweden (69) and South Korea's Ahn Shin-ae (69).

"From yesterday, I was hitting the ball really well and it kind of continued today," Saiki said through a translator. "Yesterday there was a lot of rain and you didn't know what you were going to get. Today you had no wind, the greens were consistent."

Paula Creamer (67), Cristie Kerr (69) and Karren Stupples (70) were two shots behind the leader. Kerr had an eagle on the ninth and followed with a birdie on 10.

Stanford's plan was to attack from the outset.

"Before we went out (we) realized the course could be scoreable with some of the pin placements," Stanford said.

Players were relieved not to have the burden of the teeming rain to deal with, although more showers are forecast for Saturday.

"We didn't have our umbrella up the whole time, so that was nice," Stanford said.

Lewis picked up her form after going 3-over in the last four holes at the end of her rain-soaked first round Thursday. Starting the day at 3 under, the Lewis decided she would take a positive attitude and finished with seven birdies.

She wrote a single word on her glove to cheer herself up.

"I just wrote 'confident.' Just to trust what I'm doing," she said. "I just started making birdies and putts."
Ahn was pressuring for a share of the lead again until she hit a wild tee shot into the rough on the 18th, managing par.

Creamer was only 18 when she beat 15-year-old Michelle Wie to win at Evian in 2005. She has not won it since, and admits that early success resulted in unrealistic expectations.

"Every year I've come back and I've expected myself to do it over and over again," she said. "In reality, I put a little too much pressure on myself."

Meanwhile, Wie shot 73 and missed the cut at 5 over, despite birdies on the last two holes.

Seven-time major champion Juli Inkster also failed to make the cut, finishing 3 over.
Miyazato is looking forward to better conditions in the third round.

"The greens are still soft, so everyone's going to shoot a low score," she said.

- Story courtesy of The Associated Press/Photo courtesy of Getty Images

KERR, ANDERSON TAKE EARLY OPEN LEAD

AMY ANDERSON

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Instead of teeing it up when she comes back to the Broadmoor, Cristie Kerr's next shot at the U.S. Women's Open will be a blast out of the bunker on the front, right side of the seventh green.

A difficult shot. It could be worse.

A quirky day of thunder and lightning – but only spits of rain – suspended play Thursday with 25 players making it through the first round. It was a bad break on the opening day of the toughest test in golf -- balky weather that figures to turn one of the most difficult weeks on the schedule into an even bigger grind.

"That's part of the gamble," said Christina Kim, who will try to squeeze in 36 holes on Friday.

The rain halted a mini streak for Kerr, who had made two straight birdies to get into a tie for the lead at 2-under par with amateur Amy Anderson. After her second birdie, Kerr, who opened her round on the back, teed off into the right rough on No. 7, then hit her approach into the sand. That's when the siren sounded and the players headed to the clubhouse.

"At least I'll get to practice some long bunker shots before we go out, so maybe it's a good thing for me," she said.

After halting play, the USGA kept the players in the clubhouse for 2½ hours, but with the thunder still rumbling and the radar blinking red, officials called play. There were 75 players on the course and 66 who hadn't hit a shot. That means nearly half the field, including defending champion Paula Creamer and Yani Tseng, trying to complete her career Grand Slam, could face 72 holes in three days.

The Broadmoor is the first U.S. Women's Open course to measure more than 7,000 yards – quite a haul, even at 6,700 feet in altitude.

"We were actually sitting here debating, what's the better draw?" Kim said. "Is it the one we have and we try to get 36 in in one day, or the one where you have 19 hours between shots in the same round?"

Sarah-Jane Smith of Australia falls into the latter category, but only barely. After hearing her name announced on the first tee box, Smith striped her first shot down the middle of the fairway and started walking. Suddenly, the sirens blared and she made a U-turn back to the clubhouse.

"I've not teed off at all before," she said. "But I've never hit one, then walked straight back in. I'm looking forward to it."

Then, pointing to her husband and caddie, Duane, she said, "He should have the yardage figured out by tomorrow morning."

For the record, Duane Smith says it will be a 150-yard shot when play resumes at 7:45 a.m. local time Friday.

And while Smith is sleeping on one good shot, Anderson will join Kerr in sleeping on the lead.

The second-team All-American from North Dakota State hit her approach on the par-5 ninth to tap-in range for her second birdie of the day. That put her at 2 under.

"The first-day leader," she said. "That's way more than I could have imagined."

She needs to hold onto the lead for six more holes to make it official.

The only other players under par when play was suspended were Inbee Park (through 17), Ai Miyazato (15) and Silvia Cavalleri, who birdied her first hole before play was halted. Karrie Webb was in a group of nine still on the course at even. Michelle Wie was 7 over through 17 holes.

The best score posted among the 25 players who had finished belonged to Kristy McPherson, who shot 2-over 73. That was one shot ahead of Aree Song and seven-time major winner Juli Inkster. Before the clouds rolled in, Inkster stood for about five minutes on the fairway of the par-5, 17th hole, waiting for the green to clear before she tried a 250-yard approach shot on a hole that had been unreachable during the practice rounds.

The shot came up about 20 yards short and Inkster settled for par.

"It's nice" to be done, Inkster said. "It's been a while since I've been on the good side of the switch. It's going to be a long day for them."

Typical of the U.S. Open, rounds were averaging more than five hours. Some of the players were surprised the USGA didn't wait a little longer before calling play, but the threat of rain and lightning never really abated. They'll need perfect weather the rest of the week to close out this tournament on Sunday.

- Story by The Associated Press/Photo courtesy of Getty Images

KERR LEADS PACK CHASING MIGHTY TSENG

CRISTIE KERR

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Cristie Kerr and the rest of the LPGA are taking aim at Yani Tseng, who has established herself as the tour’s dominant player.

The last time Cristie Kerr played in the U.S. Women’s Open at the Broadmoor resort, she was a 16-year-old high school student who shot a pair of 75s and missed the cut. This week, she wants the outcome to be a little different.

“I’ve gotten a lot older and a lot wiser,” said Kerr, 33, the Miami native who is now No. 2 in the world rankings and coming off a third-place finish in the LPGA Championship two weeks ago. “I have the U.S. Open under my belt, so I kind of look at the course differently and pick it apart a little differently. When I was an amateur, I just sort of played.”

If Kerr and anyone else in the field of 156 expects to prevail by Sunday evening, they will have to play superior golf against the most dominant female player on the planet these days. That would be 22-year-old Yani Tseng of Taiwan, less than two weeks removed from her overwhelming 10-shot victory in the LPGA Championship.

Tseng will be aiming at her fifth major title, and no woman has ever gotten to four any faster. If she wins, she also will have the distinction of winning each of the four major championships at least once.

Tseng came to Colorado and said, “I feel very calm and I don’t feel any pressure.” That can hardly be reassuring for the rest of the field, though Kerr was not ready to concede anything.

“On a golf course like this, with all the rough and the greens and all the different factors, and you also have to consider the altitude,” she said. “You should expect to see some of those top players on the leaderboard. I’d like to think my experience (15 previous Opens) … knowing what it takes … that’s a good thing I’ve got under my belt.”

For inspiration, Tseng went over to Annika Sorenstam’s house near Orlando last week to share a few glasses of wine. Tseng, who lives in a home she purchased from Sorenstam two years ago, said she asked her friend, who won her first Open title at the Broadmoor in 1995, “am I putting too high of expectations to win this tournament?”

Tseng said Sorenstam told her, “If you just play the same as last week, you’re going to win.”

It took Sorenstam 15 years to win 10 major championships over her Hall of Fame career. She has already called Tseng the new “face of the game.”

On Wednesday, Sorenstam described her as “a young lady who … has just embraced the golf world. She’s doing so many great things. She’s really taken the No. 1 spot to another level. She’s learning English. She wants to be the best. She wants to be the face of the LPGA. I mean, she’s got the game. I think we all know that. Long hitter and good short game and all that.

“She’s very mentally strong. To come out and win four majors already at the age of 22, I think it’s impressive. What I saw many years ago was just that: I saw an impressive young lady with a lot of potential, a lot of will. She just has the pieces of the game that I thought would make it. And the pieces she didn’t have, she either went and found them or improved whatever she had. … This is just a beginning.”

Juli Inkster, who is in the field this week, also has been suitably impressed.

“You look at Yani and you never think there will be another Mickey Wright or another Annika Sorenstam or Lorena (Ochoa), and all of a sudden Yani comes along,” Inkster said. “Yani has Lorena’s power. I mean she can bomb the ball. She’s got a lot of passion for the game. She wants to be the best. She wants to get better. So she could be here for a while. If she stays healthy, she could probably break a lot of Annika’s records.”

Tseng and Paula Creamer, the defending champion, will be paired in the first two rounds on a course that is the longest in tournament history at 7,047 yards playing to a par 71. There will be typically thick Open-style rough, and the Broadmoor’s greens have been firm and quick in the practice rounds.

“In a normal tournament, I worry too much if I don’t make birdie and other people are going to make a bunch of birdies,” Tseng said. “I think I just focus more on majors. I love a tough course. I love the challenge. You’re not going to be shooting lots of low scores. You need to be patient.’’

- Story courtesy of the Miami Herald