|
|
Updated Friday, February 13, 2009 2:42 pm TWN, AP Taiwan's Tseng second in LPGA Tour opening roundTseng, who just turned 20 last month, is hoping to build on a remarkable rookie season in which she won the LPGA Championship and recorded five runner-up finishes. "I just feel really relaxed, and I don't want to put too much expectations," she said. "I just feel really relaxed and happy." But she does want to supplant Ochoa atop the rankings. "No. 1 in the world has always been my dream. My goal when I was very young," Tseng said. "But I have a long way to go. It's just step by step. Just do what I'm doing now and just see the results." Tseng wouldn't give a precise number of events she aims to win this year. Her goal is simple: "I want to be a birdie machine." Wie made her much-anticipated debut as a full-fledged LPGA Tour member, and birdied her final three holes. Wie looked comfortable playing in front of the largest gallery and on her home island of Oahu. It was her first U.S. start since July when she was disqualified from the State Farm Classic. She had to earn her 2009 card in December at Q-school. Wie is looking for a new beginning after her wrists and confidence took a beating in 2007. Wie played the first SBS in 2005 as a 15-year-old amateur and tied for second. It also was at Turtle Bay in 2006 that she became the first female player to win a local qualifying tournament for the U.S. Open. Among the rest of the lineup, American Angela Stanford shot a bogey-free 7-under 65 to claim first round lead. South Korea's Kyeong Bae had 67, and Japan's Momoko Ueda shot a 68. Starting on the 10th, Stanford got off to a hot start in her early round and could not be caught as increasing winds made play more difficult later in the day. Stanford birdied the first two holes and made the turn at 4 under, and then birdied two of her final three holes for the outright lead. She hit all but one of the greens, but managed to save par on the par-3 fourth by dropping an 8-footer. "I've always kind of struggled playing this golf course, so I really wanted to be more patient today," she said. "So I feel like just starting out, I was in the right frame of mind." The 31-year-old Stanford, ranked No. 8 in the world, is coming off a career-best season where she won two events, broke $1 million for the first time and finished ninth on the money list. She had six of her 10 top-10 finishes in the final six events, including wins at the Bell Micro LPGA Classic and Lorena Ochoa Invitational. She also finished sixth in the season-ending ADT Championship. Taylor Leon, In-Kyung Kim, Jimin Kang, Teresa Lu and Juli Inkster had 69s on Thursday, while 2007 champion Paula Creamer was at 70, with several others. Subscribe to The China Post and save 25%. Click here |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||