Big-hitting Wie stakes major claim
Michelle Wie launched a 3-wood into swirling gusts and toward the 18th green, wondering if the shot had enough steam to get there. A shift in the wind took the guesswork out of the equation.
“It died down and I got a little surprise,” Wie said afterward. “I got all the way there.”
The 215-yard shot rolled within 30 feet of the flag to set up a two-putt birdie and a 3-under-par 68 that left Wie two shots off the lead during the opening round Thursday at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship. She wasn’t the only long hitter to benefit from windy conditions and a tough front nine at Olympia Fields (Ill.) Country Club.
Defending champion Brooke Henderson matched the 3-under start, which left her two back of co-leaders Chella Choi and Amy Yang. Choi shot a 66 in the morning, and Yang was on the 18th hole at 5 under with a chance to grab the outright lead when play was suspended for the day at 7:01 p.m. because of dangerous weather in the area.
Brittany Altomare was at 67, and Joanna Klatten also was 4 under with two holes left. Joining Henderson and Wie at 68 were Alison Lee and Su Oh. Kim Kaufman and Emily Pedersen also were 3 under late in their rounds.
“I was able to carry a couple of fairway bunkers, which is huge, because not a lot of players are able to do that,” Henderson said.
The second major on the women’s tour is again being played at the site of previous men’s majors, where big tee shots can pay big dividends. Henderson won her first major at Sahalee last year, and Wie claimed her only major — the 2014 U.S. Women’s Open — at Pinehurst.
The Women’s PGA marks the start of a stretch of three majors in six weeks, which should provide some clarity at the top of the game.
So Yeon Ryu, who beat Lexi Thompson in a playoff at the ANA Inspiration to claim the season’s first major, also took over the No. 1 spot this week after becoming the only repeat winner through the first 16 tournaments on the LPGA Tour.
Ryu shot 69, and Thompson had a 70. Twotime major winner Lydia Ko also shot 70.
U.S. Senior Open: Kirk Triplett shot an 8-under 62 in the first round of the U.S. Senior Open at Peabody, Mass., to match the lowest round in a PGA Tour Champions major.
Loren Roberts is the only other player to shoot a 62 in the tournament, setting the record in 2006 at Prairie Dunes in Kansas.
Triplett started on No. 10 on the 6,815-yard Salem Country Club course and played his first nine holes in 4 under. After making the turn, he birdied two of the first three holes, and then sank a 10-foot putt to eagle the 341-yard, par-4 fourth hole.
He closed with five pars for a one-stroke lead over Olin Browne.
Doug Garwood was another stroke back at 64. Paul Goydos, who made the turn at 5 under to take an early lead but bogeyed his final hole, was at 65 along with Tom Lehman, Kenny Perry, Jerry Smith, Barry Lane and Duffy Waldorf.
PGA Tour: David Lingmerth, who won a Web.com Tour event on the tight, tricky layout at TPC Potomoc near Washington in 2012, shot a 5-under 65 there to take the firstround lead at the Quicken Loans National.
Troy Merritt, the winner two years ago at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club, was a stroke back along with Marc Leishman, Johnson Wagner, Sung Kang, Nick Taylor and Daniel Summerhays.
European Tour: Paul Waring shot a 7-under 64 at the French Open in Guyancourt to take a two-stroke lead in a first round in which the main attraction turned out being the antics of a competitor’s mother.
The mother of 21-yearold Chinese player Li Haotong rolled up her white shorts and waded into muddy water to recover a putter that had been discarded by her son in frustration after a bogey on No. 11. She collected the club, only to throw it back into the water because it had been snapped in half by Li.