After day of errors, LPGA up for grabs

0 Comments | Deseret News (Salt Lake City), Jun 11, 2006 | by Doug Ferguson Associated Press

HAVRE DE GRACE, Md. -- Pat Hurst let everyone back into the LPGA Championship with a four-putt double bogey. Michelle Wie might be tied for the lead if not for missing a par putt from 18 inches.

Not even Annika Sorenstam was immune from a crazy, windswept Saturday at Bulle Rock with a two-shot penalty that sent her spiraling down the leaderboard and likely out of contention for a fourth straight title in this major. When the sun finally set on a long day filled with mistakes and blown putts, the LPGA Championship was up for grabs.

Hurst missed a 6-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole and had to settle for an even-par 72. That left her tied for the lead with Japanese sensation Ai Miyazato, who lost a 54-hole lead a week ago trying to win for the first time on the LPGA Tour, and now gets another chance.

They were at 7-under 209, one shot ahead of a group that includes Wie.

The 16-year-old from Hawaii three-putted for bogey three times, none as shocking as the par-3 17th. Standing over what looked to be a tap-in for par, she caught the left edge of the cup and stood in the fading sunlight with a stunned look on her face. Wie rebounded with a 10-foot birdie on the final hole for a 1-under 71, still believing she can be golf's youngest major champion.

"This golf course still owes me a really good round," Wie said.

Sorenstam birdied her first hole and marched confidently down the second fairway, ready to make a charge and silence anyone who has questioned her game over a seven-tournament drought. But she lifted a chunk of sod from a divot hole next to her ball, Karrie Webb had no choice but to call the penalty, and Sorenstam got a two-stroke penalty.

"It was a mistake I made," Sorenstam said after stumbling to a 75, leaving her six shots behind with 21 players between her and the leaders. "It's never too late, but things have to change."

The way this major is shaping up, the leaderboard could change with every shot.

Shi Hyun Ahn and Mi-Hyun Kim, playing alongside Wie, each shot 71 and joined her one shot out of the lead. Mexican star Lorena Ochoa, the hottest player on the LPGA Tour with two victories and five second-place finishes, took a three-putt bogey on the 18th hole for a 71 but was still only two shots behind, along with Jee Young Lee and the resurgent Se Ri Pak.

Webb, the only player with a chance to win the Grand Slam this year, was rattled by having to call the penalty shot on Sorenstam and was sliding out of contention until she rallied to shoot 72, joining the group at 4-under 212.

Twenty players were within five shots of the lead. It might not be so bunched if not for Hurst, who completed eight holes of the second round Saturday morning at 71 for a one-shot lead, and was in control of her game until reaching the ninth hole. From about 30 feet, she left it 2 feet above the hole, then pulled her par putt and watched it trickle 4 feet by. She missed that one, too, and never quite recovered.

Hurst made nine pars the rest of the way, but had good looks at birdie on just about every hole that left her frustrated.

Wie could say the same, and essentially did. Interviewed on television after her round, she said she was "super (ticked) off" about the short miss on the 17th.

"I'm hitting the ball well enough," Wie said. "I'm going to try to shoot a good score tomorrow and see what happens."

Wie had two other three-putts, one from 30 feet on the par-3 third, another from 12 feet on the fifth hole, but made enough putts to possibly finish off her long, attention-filled week with a major championship. A week ago, she was in New Jersey getting ready for a U.S. Open qualifier, which she played on Monday.

For all the blown chances for someone to seize control, the most stunning sight came on the second fairway.

Sorenstam blistered a drive, and after Webb and Pak hit their shots, the Swede stooped down and removed a torn piece of divot next to her ball. Then she got rid of the other piece of grass that had been loosely replaced, and Webb stopped her.

The violation of Rule 13-2 -- players cannot improve the position of their ball by removing a replaced divot -- was a two-shot penalty. The par turned into double bogey, and Sorenstam followed with a series of bad misses.

"I was next to a divot and the divot was in two pieces, and it was totally replaced in a really horrible way," Sorenstam said. "So I moved the divot, and that's against the rules."

Sorenstam knows the rules as well as anyone on the LPGA Tour, and Webb was shocked by what she saw.

"I saw her remove part of the divot," Webb said. "I wasn't going to say anything, but then she removed the other part. I feel bad for calling it on her, but I would feel bad if she had won by one shot. I'd feel bad for whoever finished second."

Hurst now has to contend with Miyazato, who won six times on the Japanese tour last year and won LPGA qualifying school by a record 12 shots to earn her card. She had a one-shot lead last week at the ShopRite Classic before closing with a 74 to tie for 13th. The stage is much bigger Sunday, but the pint-sized Miyazato appears up for it.