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Bader takes early lead at Safeway

Taiwan’s Candie Kung hits her approach shot on the 18th hole during the first round of the Safeway Classic in North Plains, Oregon, on Friday. PHOTO: AFP

US veteran Beth Bader fired an eight-under par 64 on Friday to take a one-shot lead after one round of the LPGA Safeway Classic.

Bader notched her score early, before wind picked up and rain began at Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club near Portland. Anna Nordqvist, Sweden’s LPGA Champion, was tied for second with South Korea’s Seon Hwa Lee on 65.

“It’s nice to get off to a good start,” said Bader, who posted her best round since 2007. “I’ve had a tendency of not getting off to a very good start and I haven’t been able to come back from that.”

Nordqvist had seven birdies without a bogey.

“I thought I hit my irons beautiful today,” Nordqvist said. “I hit a lot of them close for a lot of putts. You just have to stay patient and keep hitting greens and fairways. I think that was key. I had a lot of great opportunities, and I made a couple coming in.”

Lee also had seven birdies and no bogeys, capping her round with back-to-back birdies at 17 and 18. She said her putter was the key to her round.

“I played really solid today,” she said. “I missed a couple greens, but I had a great up-and-down, and my putter was really good today. I think I made almost every putt. Yeah, my putting was really good today.”

Britain’s Janice Moodie led a group of four players on 66, which also included Taiwan’s Candie Kung and Americans Angela Stanford and Stacy Prammanasudh.

Defending champion Cristie Kerr had a 69, playing in a star-studded group with Michelle Wie and Mexico’s Lorena Ochoa.

Kerr botched a chip from the rough at 18 to bogey her closing hole.

Just before she chipped, the US Air Force Thunderbirds demonstration squadron, in the area for a nearby air show, roared past.

Ochoa carded a 70, while Wie birdied the final hole for a 68.

Wie and Kerr were on the US Solheim Cup team that beat Europe last week in the biennial match play tournament. Ten of the team’s 12 players are in the field in North Plains, Oregon. There would have been more, but Paul Creamer withdrew complaining of illness.

The tournament moved this year from Columbia Edgewater Country Club near Portland’s airport, where it was played for 19 years. Pumpkin Ridge is west of the city.

Taiwan’s Yani Tseng shot a four-under-par 68. Amy Hung was at 73 and Teresa Lu shot a 74.



BARCLAYS CLASSIC

REUTERS, JERSEY CITY, New Jersey

US Tour rookie Webb Simpson took advantage of milder afternoon conditions to shoot a three-under-par 68 for a two-stroke lead after Friday’s second round of the Barclays Classic.

After a miserable morning of heavy rain and gusty wind that saw early starters manage only two sub-par rounds, Simpson emerged from a four-man tussle for the lead by matching the low round of the day for a 36-hole total of eight-under-par 134.

Two strokes behind the 24-year-old American in the first leg of the four-tournament FedExCup series that pays a US$10 million bonus to the winner, were compatriots Paul Goydos and Steve Marino, joint first-round leaders after opening 65s.

Goydos finished bogey-bogey to complete his level-par 71.

Another two shots back on four-under-par 138 were Sweden’s Fredrik Jacobson (72) and American Heath Slocum, who double-bogeyed the last hole for 72 after getting to seven under par for the tournament.

Tiger Woods bogeyed the 18th for a 72 that left him even par on 142, eight shots behind Simpson.

Spain’s Sergio Garcia, who also shared the overnight lead, fell victim to the brutal morning conditions and slid to a 76 for 141.

Morning starters averaged 75.55, more than two shots worse than the players that started later.

Briton Ian Poulter (72), Swede Richard S. Johnson (71) and American Steve Stricker (70) were tied on 139, five strokes off the pace.

Seventy-seven players made the cut of five-over-par 147, matching the Arnold Palmer Invitational as the season’s highest 36-hole cut in relation to par.

Among those missing the cut were holder Vijay Singh (150), Masters champion Angel Cabrera (152) and US Open winner Lucas Glover, who played without a driver for 11 holes while waiting for a replacement for the one he cracked in practice on Thursday.

Glover shot 81 for 156.

Twice former US Open winner Ernie Els moved into contention with the help of an eagle on the short par-four 16th. He shot 68 to finish on 140.

Because of more rain forecast yesterday, players were scheduled to go off in threesomes from both tees for the third round.



JOHNNIE WALKER

AP, GLENEAGLES, Scotland

Paul Lawrie shot a second successive bogey-free round on Friday, a 3-under 69, for a two-stroke halfway lead in the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles.

The 1999 British Open champion had six birdies and an eagle without dropping a shot in 36 holes and is two ahead of Jonathan Caldwell, a 24-year-old Northern Irishman who shot a 6-under 66, Dutchman Maarten Lafeber (67) and Daniel Vancsik (69) of Argentina.

Vancsik missed a two-foot birdie putt at the last that would have given him a share of second place.

Jose Maria Olazabal birdied the 18th for a 68 that included birdies on five of his first six holes. He shares third place on 5-under 139 with Soren Hansen, the Danish Ryder Cup player who carded a 70, Gregory Bourdy (68) of France and Shiv Kapur (70) of India.

Slumping European Ryder Cup captain Colin Montgomerie needed a big improvement after an opening 76 to avoid missing a fourth successive halfway cut for the first time in his career.


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