Three-time LPGA winner Brittany Lincicome missed the cut after shooting a two-over 74 in the first round of a Hooters Tour tournament on Tuesday.
Playing her first event on the men’s Hooters Tours Winter Series, the 25-year-old Lincicome finished in a tie for 72nd out of 113, 10 strokes back of leader American Brad Klapprott.
Lincicome, who is considered one of the longest hitters on the women’s LPGA Tour, finished with one birdie, three bogeys and 14 pars on the Deer Island Golf Club course.
She finished in a tie with England’s Zane Scotland, who in 1999 competed as a 16-year-old amateur in the British Open. Two years earlier, Scotland had won a national newspaper competition to find Britain’s answer to Tiger Woods.
A car accident and wrist injury sidelined his career before he returned to the British Open last year for the time in 11 years. The Hooters Tour is the development men’s golf tour with tournaments in the eastern US. In 2003, Annika Sorenstam competed in the Colonial Tournament, becoming the first woman to play in a PGA Tour event since Babe Zaharias, who qualified for the 1945 Los Angeles Open.
Sweden’s Sorenstam shot a five-over par, tying for 96th out of the 111 and missed the cut.
Early in her career, the US’ Michelle Wie delayed her decision to officially join the women’s tour saying she hadn’t decided whether to play on the women’s or the men’s PGA Tour full-time.
IFQ-AUSTRALASIA
Reuters, MELBOURNE, Australia
Matt Millar celebrated the birth of his second child by booking a ticket to the British Open at International Final Qualifying -(IFQ-Australasia) on Tuesday.
The 34-year-old Australian secured his first appearance in a major championship by winning 36-hole qualifying at Kingston Heath Golf Club with a 10-under-par total of 134.
“My wife gave birth on Wednesday so I haven’t had a chance to play much golf and practice ... maybe that’s the secret for me,” Millar told reporters.
“I can’t wait [for the Open]. I’ve played a bit of golf over in Britain but never at Royal St George’s so I’m really looking forward to the experience,” he said.
The other two qualifying places for the third major of the season starting on July 14 went to Millar’s fellow countrymen Kurt Barnes (135) and Rick Kulacz (136).
Kulacz finished on the same eight-under-par mark as Stephen Leaney, but won through with a par at the second hole of a playoff.
British Open IFQ (Africa) takes place next week at the Royal Johannesburg and Kensington Golf Club.
JOBURG OPEN
AFP, JOHANNESBURG
South African Charl Schwartzel returns to a happy hunting ground this week as favorite to retain the 1.3 million euro (US$1.7 million) Joburg Open trophy.
The swarthy, medium-height 26-year-old from the town of Vereeniging, south of Johannesburg, finished joint second, fourth and joint second in the other three tournaments on the South African leg of the Road to Dubai circuit.
Had he managed to shave just one stroke off each round he would have won the Alfred Dunhill Championship at Leopard Creek and the Africa Open at East London Golf Club and finished third in the South African Open at Durban Country Club.
His highest score in 12 sub-par rounds over the three courses was 70 and he is not complaining that persistent heavy rain has turned the par-71, 6,940m Royal Johannesburg and Kensington Golf Club into a very wet layout.
Almost daily soakings for several weeks mean the east and west courses — competitors will play a round on each before using the west for the last 36 holes — have little fairway run and soft greens ahead of today’s start.
“I am confident going into this tournament because I have been playing well and a soft course suits me. I have always played well at Royal Johannesburg,” Schwartzel told the South African media.
He began his Joburg Open challenge last year in similar wet conditions with an eight-under 63 followed by rounds of 68, 64 and 66 to end six strokes clear of fellow South African Keith Horne and Darren Clarke from Northern Ireland.
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