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.
Jobe Bellingham on Tuesday admitted to having “anxieties” on following in brother Jude’s footsteps after joining Borussia Dortmund in the summer. Jobe Bellingham, 19, is two years younger than Jude Bellingham, who joined Real Madrid in 2023 after three years at Dortmund. A centerpiece of the England national team, Jude Bellingham has emerged as one of the best players in the world in recent seasons. The younger Jobe Bellingham joined Dortmund in June from Sunderland after their promotion to the English Premier League. He admitted he understood what the perception would be ahead of the move to Germany. “It’s something you do think about.
Before Tuesday’s 7-2 win at the Atlanta Braves, Milwaukee Brewers manager Pat Murphy suggested “most people couldn’t tell you five players on our team.” A look at the standings would indicate more Brewers players soon will be recognized by more fans. After all, it is difficult to overlook a team that not only continues to extend their lead in the National League Central, but also boasts the best record in the majors. “What we’re doing in here right now is special,” right-handed pitcher Freddy Peralta said after allowing only four hits and one run in five innings, while setting a career high with
Carlos Alcaraz on Sunday fought through a second-set slump to post a roller-coaster 6-1, 2-6, 6-3 victory over Damir Dzumhur in his opening match at the Cincinnati Open. The Spaniard, playing his first tournament since losing to Jannik Sinner in the Wimbledon final, raced through the first set, but completely lost his way in the second, dropping his serve twice against the 33-year-old Bosnian. Alcaraz regained his intensity and cut down his errors in the third set as a seventh ace took him to a match point that was converted when Dzumhur fired wide. “It was just a roller coaster,” said the second
A baseball team from New Taipei City won the US Pony Palomino Division World Series yesterday in Laredo, Texas, defeating the US West representative team from Azusa, California, 2-1. Ku-Pao Home Economics and Commercial High School earned the right to represent Taiwan in the Pony Palomino (17 to 18 age group) World Series after winning this year's Wang Chen-chih Cup, a competition named after Taiwanese-Japanese baseball legend Wang Chen-chih (王貞治), also known as Sadaharu Oh. In the championship game against Azusa, Ku-Pao's starting pitcher Luo Yu-yan (羅于晏) was erratic early, giving up two hits in the bottom of the first inning, followed
RSS