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Birdie soars to top of the leader board

Pak Se-ri of South Korea chips from the fringe of the 18th green during the first round of the LPGA Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic in Sylvania, Ohio, Thursday. Pak finished the day at 2 over par. PHOTO: AP

Birdie Kim took a solid first step toward proving her stunning US Women's Open win wasn't a fluke.

Kim, two weeks removed from her dramatic win at Cherry Hills, shot a 6-under 65 -- her LPGA career low -- to share the lead with Becky Morgan after the opening round of the Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic on Thursday.

Kim's 65 was three shots below her previous best on the tour.

She bogeyed her third hole of the day, then birdied seven of her final 13 holes. Six of the birdies didn't require a putt longer than 6 feet.

Kim, one of six players with that last name in the Farr field, holed an improbable sand shot on the 72nd hole of the Open to hold off amateurs Morgan Pressel and Brittany Lang, who finished tied for second.

"That gave me a lot of confidence," Kim said. "I feel free. I don't have to worry about going back to Q school.''

Kim said she was aware of the precedent set at the Corning Classic by another South Korean, her close friend Pak Se-ri. Pak has won the Classic four times and owns most of the event's scoring records, including back-to-back rounds of 61 and 63 while winning in a rout in 1998.

Birdie Kim hits an iron off the 7th fairway at the Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic in Sylvania, Ohio, Thursday. Kim finished the round at six under par. PHOTO: AP

"She taught me a lot," Kim said, before detailing Pak's track record at Highland Meadows Golf Club. "I know that she had all those low scores at this golf course."

Morgan, from Wales, turned on the television before going to the course and saw the news about the terrorist bombings in London. Shaken, she called home to make sure her family and friends were OK before recording her second-best score of the year.

She had a bogey on No. 2 and then birdied five of the last seven holes on the front side. She twice holed birdie putts from off the green, making a 20-footer from the back fringe at No. 3, then closing out her round by rolling in a 30-footer from well off the green and below the hole at 18.

Angela Stanford and Gloria Park were tied for second at 67 and two shots back, while defending champion Meg Mallon, Young Kim and Jeong Jang were at 68.

Pressel and Lang are again among Kim's closest pursuers -- and are again grabbing a lot of attention.

The 19-year-old Lang shot a 2-under 69 in her professional debut.

"It didn't feel a whole lot different," Lang said. "I like it out here."

The 17-year-old Pressel, America's top-ranked amateur and junior, shot a 1-under 70. She asked the LPGA this week for a waiver to turn pro and play in tour events. Tour rules don't permit players to earn money in LPGA events before their 18th birthday.

Fifteen-year-old Michelle Wie shot a 1-under 70 at the John Deere Classic on Thursday, putting her on target to become the first woman in 60 years to make a cut on the US PGA Tour.

The top 70 players and ties make the cut, and there were 91 players at 1-under or better when Wie finished her first round.

Babe Didrikson Zaharias is the last woman to make a cut on the tour, at the 1945 Tucson Open. No woman played on the tour until 2003, when Annika Sorenstam teed it up at the Colonial. Sorenstam missed the cut.

Since then, Suzy Whaley and Wie have played tour events. Wie missed the cut at the 2004 Sony Open by one stroke. She played the same event this year, missing the cut by seven strokes.

Wie is playing the Deere Classic on a sponsor's exemption, and she's clearly the center of the attention. A gallery of a couple hundred people was there at the first hole, and it grew to about 2,000 when she made the turn.

One of the best rounds of his career was enough to give Stuart Little a share of the lead Thursday in the Scottish Open, but not enough to start thinking about St. Andrews.

Little twice had stretches of three straight birdies on a calm day at Loch Lomond for a 7-under 64, his lowest score in relation to par in his nine years on the European tour. It left him atop the leaderboard with Angel Cabrera, one shot ahead of former Open champion Paul Lawrie, Lee Westwood and Richard Sterne.

"It's nice to be there, but I think as you're all aware, it's a long road ahead the next three days," Little said.

It would be tempting for Little to look ahead.

The top finisher at Loch Lomond gets an exemption to the British Open next week, and Little must have figured his chances were over two weeks ago when he was delayed leaving France, got only three hours' sleep and played so poorly in the qualifier than he withdrew after 18 holes.

Little has only played in one British Open -- at St. Andrews in 2000, when he missed the cut.

US Ryder Cup captain Tom Lehman, who has won at Loch Lomond, overcame a slight injury to his left thumb to post a 66, while former Masters champion Phil Mickelson opened with a 67, along with Darren Clarke.

Colin Montgomerie ran off three straight birdies, but nearly hit into a hazard on the 18th and settled for a 68.

Ernie Els wound up in the middle of the pack. Playing for the first time since a lackluster performance in the US Open, Els surprised many by showing up at Loch Lomond -- he had planned to take a three-week break before St. Andrews -- and swapped birdies with bogeys until making a short putt on his last hole for a 70.

Retief Goosen recovered from a 40 on his outward nine with flawless golf to salvage an even-par 71.
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