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.
A runner who stopped during a marathon in China to pose doing the splits and another who hoarded energy gels have been banned for two years, the local athletics association said yesterday. The incidents happened during Sunday’s marathon in Sichuan Province’s Chengdu and were widely shared online. Videos showed a female runner stopping suddenly and dropping to the ground in the splits position, holding up her arms in a heart shape as she apparently posed for a photograph. She “committed obstructive fouls during the race, affecting the safe participation of other runners,” the Sichuan Athletics Association said in a statement, which identified
Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli yesterday vowed to “keep raising the bar” after winning the Japanese Grand Prix to become the youngest driver in Formula One history to lead the championship standings. The 19-year-old Italian took advantage of a mid-race safety car to jump into the lead after a dreadful start from pole position, crossing the line ahead of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. Antonelli’s Suzuka victory came two weeks after the first grand prix win of his career in China, and sent him top of the championship standings after three races, nine points ahead of team-mate George Russell. Mercedes are struggling to
Teng Kai-wei, the only Taiwanese player on an opening-day roster in this year’s Major League Baseball (MLB) season, took his first win of the year with the Houston Astros in his season debut. Teng entered in relief in the top of the fifth inning against the Los Angeles Angels on Saturday, with the Astros trailing 5-0. He pitched 2-1/3 scoreless innings with two strikeouts, as Houston scored 11 runs during his outing to snatch an 11-9 comeback victory. The win is the Astros’ first of the season and the third of Teng’s MLB career. “It’s my first time pitching for the Astros, so
Yu Yao-hsing on Tuesday nabbed Taiwan’s only goal in the final round of qualifiers for the 2027 AFC Asian Cup, as they fell 3-1 to Sri Lanka at Taipei Municipal Stadium. Early goals from Sri Lanka in the first half left Taiwan struggling to get on the board, and Christopher Tiao’s own goal at 53 minutes sealed the team’s fate in the third round of qualifiers. While acknowledging that the defeat, Taiwan’s sixth in Group D, was disappointing, head coach Matt Ross said he saw reasons to stay positive about the team’s development. “There were lots of positive signs in terms of the
RSS