Annika Sorenstam showed a human side to her machinelike march toward the Grand Slam, taking a deep breath of the mile-high air Thursday morning to help steady herself at the US Women's Open.
She doesn't get nervous very often. Rarer still is when she misses the fairway.
Sorenstam started with a bogey from the rough and ended the first round with a three-putt bogey from just off the green. Along the way, she conquered her nerves and broke even with tough Cherry Hills, finishing with a 71 that left her two shots behind Angela Stanford.
PHOTO: AP
Even with a peaceful view of the snow-capped Rockies on the horizon, Sorenstam felt the pressure of trying to become the first player to capture the first three legs of the professional Grand Slam.
"US Open, a lot of people, tough golf course, a lot on my mind," she said with a smile when asked to explain her nerves on the 10th tee. "I put a lot of pressure on myself. I really want to do well here. When you stand on the tee, you know you have to hit fairways. That's double pressure right there.
"I'm just happy I found the rhythm in the middle."
The scorecard showed an even-par round for Sorenstam, but she worked hard to keep it from being worse. She salvaged her round with five nifty par saves on her second nine, twice making 6-footers without ever looking at the hole until she heard the ball rattle around the bottom of the cup.
Cherry Hills didn't leave anyone with much chance to relax. With half of the 156-player field completing the first round, Stanford was the only one to break 70, and only three other players broke par -- former Women's Open champion Liselotte Neumann, Nicole Perrot and Young-A Yang.
Joining Sorenstam at 71 were defending champion Meg Mallon, Sophie Gustafson and 17-year-old Morgan Pressel, who first played in the Women's Open four years ago.
"You do get beat up out there," Stanford said.
Stanford kept the ball in the short grass, but she was all over the leaderboard. She opened with three birdies on the first five holes, gave all those shots back by the time she made the turn, then closed with a pair of birdies to take the outright lead among early starters.
The most important hole might have been a par on the uphill, 459-yard 18th. She hit a 4-iron into the front bunker, then saved par with a 7-foot putt.
"It's an emotional roller coaster," she said.
It was a day in which par took on different meaning. Mallon was thrilled, considering she had been struggling with her driver. Pressel was in tears after playing her first eight holes in 5 under.
Sorenstam was right where she wanted to be.
Without that string of par saves, she easily could have opened with a 75 or worse. Instead, her name is right in the mix for all to see.
"Around par is always good at the Open," Sorenstam said.
It was a struggle from the start, with a tee shot gobbled up by rough so thick she had no chance to reach the green and missed a 5-footer for par. She found the left rough on the par-5 11th, and hit a long iron into the green for her third shot to take away a good chance of birdie.
Sorenstam missed four putts inside 10 feet -- three of those birdie chances -- on her front nine, but her putter bailed her out on the back.
She hit into a bunker on No. 2 and holed an 18-footer for par, then knocked in a 6-footer for par on the third after going just over the green. The biggest save of all might have been the par-5 fifth.
Sorenstam hit 4-iron off the tee, clipped a branch and dropped into the rough. All she could do was hack out short of a creek, leaving her a 4-wood into the green, which she deposited into the bunker. She blasted out to 7 feet, barely nudged the putt and lightly clenched her fist when it fell for par.
"A string of important putts," she said. "If I wouldn't have made any of them, then it would be a totally different situation. I made them all, and that just kept me going.''
Pressel played in the group ahead of Sorenstam, and gave her something to think about with birdies on four of the first five holes. She was the only player to get to 5 under with a birdie on the par-5 17th.
"Then I just let it get away," said Pressel, a fiery player who is either pumping her fist or wiping her eyes.
She missed two fairways and took bogeys, then watched it all get away from her on the 206-yard eighth hole, where her 11-wood came up short in the rough. Pressel chipped too hard and through the green, then watched in horror as her 15-footer for par raced 10 feet by the cup.
"Oh my God! Sit!," she pleaded.
After two-putting for double bogey, she tossed her putter at the bag, then slammed her ball into the bottom pocket. Kneeling, she bowed her head and covered her face with both hands. She was still hot when she got to the ninth tee, swung hard and put it in the right rough for a closing bogey, putting her back at 71.
"I came here to play the best I could, and I did," she said. "And then I played the worst I could."
She started crying in the middle of her interview, still upset about her finish until someone reminded her that even par was never a bad score in the US Open.
"If you look at the score, it's not that bad," Pressel said. "If you look at how I played, it gets worse."
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