Suzann Pettersen appears to have put a major collapse behind her.
Ten weeks after she self-destructed down the stretch in Kraft Nabisco Championship, Pettersen birdied three of her last four holes on Friday just in time to escape the heat, posting a five-under 67 to take a one-shot lead over Karrie Webb in the LPGA Championship.
"I forgot about that a long time ago," Pettersen said of her collapse in California, where she played her last four holes in four over to finish one shot behind Morgan Pressel.
"I didn't look at it as a collapse. I looked at it as what I can do different, so I do stronger when I get to the next tournament and I'm in the same situation," she said.
All that mattered at broiling Bulle Rock was finding some shade.
With temperatures in the 30s and no cloud cover, players who teed off in the afternoon carried umbrellas to shield the sun and guzzled water to keep hydrated.
Pettersen teed off early and was at eight-under 136 before the course started to cook.
"I was lucky being on this side of the draw," the Norwegian said. "Already on the front I was heating up pretty bad, and on the back nine, there are some places that just seem to be sheltered from the breeze. So it's boiling."
Michelle Wie also played in the morning. By the end of the day, the 17-year-old from Hawaii was lucky to still be in the tournament.
She bogeyed her last hole for a 74 that left her at three-over 147, and it looked as though she would miss the cut by one shot. Wie probably owes thanks to Karen Davies.
Playing in the final group, Davies bogeyed the last hole to allow 14 other players -- Wie included -- to tie for 70th and make the cut.
Wie was 11 shots behind.
Webb continues to hit the ball so well that she was slightly disgusted with her 69.
Big-hitting Brittany Lincicome shot 69 and was two shots behind with former US Women's Open champion Birdie Kim (71). The group at five-under 139 included Pressel (71) and Annika Sorenstam, who birdied her last two holes for a 69.
Lorena Ochoa, the No. 1 player but without a major, hurt herself with a double bogey when she went long on the fourth green and wound up with a second straight 71 to finish at 142, six shots behind.
Wie continued to keep her driver in the bag and conceded that her chances of winning this week were unrealistic on a course where she is playing with more caution than abandon. Even so, she had few complaints.
"This was 5,000 times better than last week," said Wie, and that was before she knew she was playing on the weekend.
SSC Napoli’s Italian Serie A title hopes suffered a late setback on Sunday when they were held to a 2-2 draw at home against Genoa, setting up a thrilling season finale with closest rivals Inter just one point behind. The hosts remain top with 78 points, holding a slim lead over Inter, who won 2-0 at Torino earlier on Sunday, with two rounds remaining. To make matters worse for Napoli, midfielder Stanislav Lobotka, struggling with an ankle injury, was forced off just minutes after the match began. Scott McTominay delivered a perfect pass into the box where Romelu Lukaku got
Harry Kane opened the scoring ahead of lifting his first career silverware as Bayern Munich beat Borussia Moenchengladbach 2-0, with veteran Thomas Mueller playing his last home game for the club. Bayern officially won the title on May 4 when defending champions Bayer Leverkusen were held to a 2-2 draw at Freiburg, but were presented with the Bundesliga shield in front of their home fans at full-time. Dripping wet after being showered with beer by teammates, Kane said the title win was “an incredible feeling,” and hoped it would be “the first of many.” “It’s been lot of hard work, a lot of
A stunning Lamine Yamal strike on Thursday helped crown Barcelona La Liga champions with a 2-0 win over local rivals RCD Espanyol, with victory ensuring Real Madrid cannot catch them at the top of the table. Yamal’s effort and Fermin Lopez’s goal took Hansi Flick’s side seven points clear of Los Blancos with two matches remaining, to clinch Barcelona’s 28th title and complete a superb domestic treble. Only the UEFA Champions League title escaped an exciting young Barca side this season, as they won the league for the second time in six years, at Espanyol’s ground again just as in 2022-2023. Back then,
Jannik Sinner on Thursday marched into the semi-finals of the Italian Open after destroying Casper Ruud in straight sets 6-0, 6-1, while Coco Gauff won a marathon three-set battle with China’s Zheng Qinwen to advance to the women’s singles final. American Gauff is to face Italy’s Jasmine Paolini in today’s title match after pulling through 7-6 (7/3), 4-6, 7-6 (7/4) in a match that lasted over three-and-a-half hours. Ruud was supposed to be Sinner’s toughest test in Rome since he came back from his three-month doping ban, as the Norwegian came into the match in hot form on clay after winning in
RSS