American Stacy Lewis fired a bogey-free three-under 67 on Thursday to grab the clubhouse lead in the first round of the US Women’s Open Championship, which was suspended because of severe weather.
World No. 1 Lewis has a one-shot lead over Michelle Wie, who was alone in second at two-under 68 at the Pinehurst golf course.
Lewis, the defending Women’s British Open champion, has already posted two wins this season at the North Texas LPGA Shootout and ShopRite Classic.
Photo: AFP
“Once you get one under your belt, it’s contagious, you just want to win more and more,” Lewis said about winning majors. “I just have geared my game toward majors. I love it when it’s hard. I love it when you have to grind. I love it when you have to make eight and 10-footers for par. It suits me and my game.”
The course is more than 914m shorter then it was when the men’s US Open was held here last week.
Ryu So-yeon, the 2011 US Women’s Open champ, Katherine Kirk and amateur Lee Min-jee are the only other players under par at one-under 69.
Photo: AFP
Play was stopped on Thursday with 30 players still on the course.
Eleven-year-old Lucy Li, who is the youngest qualifier in Women’s Open history, finished with a 78. The 1.57m dynamo finished her round with 10 pars, two birdies, three bogeys, two double bogeys and a triple bogey.
“Getting to play in the US Open was a lot of fun. I kind of struggled today, but it was great,” Li said. “I’m happy with how I played. I just need to get rid of the big numbers.”
Photo: AFP
Lewis missed just one green and one fairway in her first round.
“I am very happy,” she said. “It was such an easy day. I played really, really solid. I didn’t put myself in too bad of spots and made a few birdies, which was nice.”
Former US Women’s Open winners Karrie Webb and Paula Creamer shot matching even-par 70s to share sixth place.
Mina Harigae, Stephanie Meadow and Taiwan’s Candie Kung are also at even par, but were still to complete their first rounds when play resumed early yesterday morning. Kung has finished 17 holes, while Harigae and Meadow are both through 16 holes.
Taiwan’s Lin Tzu-chi was also to finish her first round.
Teresa Lu carded a five-over 75, Yani Tseng a seven-over 77 and Hsu Wei-ling an 11-over 81.
US Women’s Open champions Juli Inkster, Choi Na-yeon and Ji Eun-hee, and Lexi Thompson are among a group of 11 players tied for 11th place at one-over 71.
Defending champion Inbee Park stumbled to a six-over 76 during her opening round and is tied for 77th place. Park’s 76 tied her worst round of the season.
Two-time winner this year Jessica Korda shot a nine-over 79.
Additional reporting by staff writer
Taiwanese world No. 1 women’s doubles star Hsieh Su-wei on Saturday overcame a first-set loss to win her opening match at the Madrid Open. Top seeds Hsieh and partner Elise Mertens of Belgium, with whom she last month won her fourth Indian Wells women’s doubles title, bounced back from a rocky first set to beat Asia Muhammad of the US and Aldila Sutjiadi of Indonesia 2-6, 6-4, 10-2. Hsieh and Mertens were next to face Heather Watson of the UK and Xu Yifan of China in the round of 16. Thirty-eight-year-old Hsieh last month reclaimed her world No. 1 spot after her Indian
EYES ON THE PRIZE: Armed with three solid men’s singles shuttlers and doubles Olympic champions, Taiwan aim to make their first Thomas Cup semi-final, Chou Tien-chen said Taiwanese badminton star Tai Tzu-ying yesterday quickly dispatched Malaysia’s Goh Jin Wei in straight sets, while her male counterpart Chou Tien-chen beat Germany’s Kai Schaefer, as Taiwan’s women’s and men’s teams won their Group B opening rounds of the TotalEnergies BWF Thomas and Uber Cup Finals in Chengdu, China. World No. 5 Tai beat Goh 21-19, 22-20 in a speedy 33 minutes, her fourth straight victory over the world No. 24 shuttler since they first faced each other in the quarter-finals of the 2018 Malaysia Open, where Tai went on to win the women’s singles title. Malaysia followed up Tai’s opening victory
Chen Yi-tung (陳奕通) secured a historic Olympic berth on Sunday by winning the senior men’s foil event at the 2024 Asia Oceania Zonal Olympic Fencing Qualifiers in United Arab Emirates. Chen defeated Samuel Elijah of Singapore 15-4 in the final in Dubai to secure the only wild card in the event, making him the first male Olympian fencer from Taiwan in 36 years and only the sixth Taiwanese fencer to ever qualify for the quadrennial event. The last appearance by a Taiwanese male fencer at the Olympics was in 1988, when Wang San-tsai (王三財) and Cheng Ming-hsiang (鄭明祥) competed in Seoul. The
Rafael Nadal on Tuesday lost in straight sets to 31st-ranked Jiri Lehecka in the fourth round at the Madrid Open, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced to the semi-finals in the women’s doubles. Nadal said that he was feeling good about his progress following his latest injury layoff. Nadal called it a “positive week” in every way and said his body held up well. “I was able to play four matches, a couple of tough matches,” Nadal said. “So very positive, winning three matches, playing four matches at the high level of tennis. I enjoyed a lot playing at home. I leave here with