KirkwoodGolf

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

VIKKI HAS IT ALL TO DO AFTER AN OPENING 76
IN LPGA FINAL QUALIFYING SCHOOL


Vikki Laing faces an uphill task after a four-over-par opening round of 76 left the Musselburgh exile in joint 96th place in a field of 135 at the LPGA Final Qualifying School at LPGA International, Daytona Beach in Florida.
England's Joanne Morley also returned a 76. Compatriot Kiran Matharu had a nightmare time, finishing with an 83 which left her in joint last position.
Samantha Head, another English player, did best of the British quartet with a one-over-par 73 to be sharing 45th place, eight shots behind American leader Jane Park who had a two-shot advantage over Kelli Kuehne.
The field will be cut to the top 70 and ties after four rounds with the qualifiers contesting the final round in pursuit of 17 exempt players' cards for the 2008 LPGA Tour.

SCROLL DOWN FOR ALL THE FIRST-ROUND SCORES

FROM THE LPGA WEBSITE:

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla., Nov. 28, 2007 – LPGA Tour rookie Jane Park (33-32) carded a field-low, 7-under-par 65 in the first round of the LPGA Final Qualifying Tournament on Wednesday at LPGA International in Daytona Beach, Fla., and holds a two-stroke lead over 10-year Tour veteran Kelli Kuehne (32-35).
The 90-hole tournament is staged at LPGA International, where 137 players will play the Champions and Legends courses twice, hoping to be among the top-70 to advance to Sunday. After Sunday's final round, the top-17 finishers will earn exempt status for the 2008 Tour season, while the next 35 will earn conditional status.
Park, who earned non-exempt status for the LPGA Tour at the 2006 LPGA Final Qualifying Tournament, played in 11 events this season and her best finish was a tie for 17th at the Sybase Classic Presented by ShopRite in May.
Today, she took her first step toward retaining her Tour card on her very first hole – the 10th of the Legends Course – where she used her 9-iron from 128 yards for an eagle, marking the lone eagle of the day.
She followed with a birdie on the 12th hole to drop to 3-under, but then lit up the front nine with five birdies, including three straight on holes two, three and four. Park's lone bogey came on the par-5, 487-yard eighth hole.
“I have really been working on just keeping the ball in the fairway. I am hitting the ball very well right now and so I was very fortunate to make the putts that were makeable today. Putting on Bermuda greens is really tough because I come from Southern California and the grass there is bent,” Park said.
“I just don't want to get ahead of myself. I'm going to put my round today in the past. Tomorrow is a whole new day and everyone is playing on the same golf courses. I'm just going to go out there and try to do my best like I did today.”
Kuehne began her first round on the 10th tee of the Champions Course and rattled off consecutive birdies on her first three holes. With her fourth birdie on the 17th hole, Kuehne made the turn at four-under-par before carding her final birdie on the first hole en route to a bogey-free round.
“I got off to a good start and had a lot of chances today, the course was nice to me. But I have to keep in mind that this is a five-day event, and come out again tomorrow and hit fairways and greens and make my putts. I'm here with the mindset that I already have status, so that puts less pressure on me. I know that I have a place to play,” Kuehne said.
“I'll just play my best, accept my fate, and hopefully get through to the end.”
Rounding out the top-three on the leaderboard with a four-under-par 68 is South Korean Na Yeon Choi (35-33), who also played on the Champions Course. Choi began her round on the back nine, where she notched a single birdie on the 17th hole.
After bogeying the third hole, her 12th hole of the day, Choi rebounded with a birdie on the very next hole, and then carded three straight on holes six, seven and eight.
“I played good today. The course was wide, and that suits my game. Tomorrow's course, Legends, is more narrow and I have to concentrate and focus,” Choi said.

ALL THE FIRST ROUND SCORES
Par 72
65 Jane Park
67 Kelli Kuehne
68 Na Yeon Choi
69 Russy Gulyanamitta
69 Sarah Lynn Sargent
69 Meredith Duncan
69 Carolina Llano
69 Sukjin Lee Wuesthoff
69 Jacqueline Yang
70 Su A Kim
70 Hwan Hee Lee
70 Yani Tseng
70 Nikki Garrett
70 Anna Grzebien
70 Ashleigh Simon
70 Adrienne White
70 Kristina Tucker
70 Liz Janangelo
70 Sarah Oh
71 Clarissa Childs
71 Christi Cano
71 Sarah Kemp
71 Virada Nirapathpongporn
71 Beth Allen
71 Jeanne Cho-Hunicke
71 Louise Friberg
71 Jamie Hullett
71 Nicole Hage
71 Hana Kim
71 Christina Lecuyer
72 May Wood
72 Maru Martinez
72 Anja Monke
72 Rachel Bailey
72 Amy Yang
72 Hee Young Park
72 Sophie Giquel
72 Amie Cochran
72 Danielle Downey
72 Leah Wigger
72 Anna Rawson
72 Becky Lucidi
72 Shanshan Feng
72 Angela Jerman
73 Samantha Head (England)
73 Cindy Pasechnik
73 Nina Reis
73 Sarah-Jane Kenyon
73 Taylor Leon
73 Eileen Vargas
73 Eun Jung Yi
73 Hannah Jun
73 Irene Cho
73 Mandy Goins
73 Hanna Kang
73 Jennifer Gleason
73 Jennifer Greggain
73 Emma Cabrera-Bello
73 Misun Cho
73 Sofie Andersson
73 Simi Mehra
73 A.J. Eathorne
73 Nontaya Srisawang
73 Tracy Hanson
74 Lee Ann Walker-Cooper
74 Kim Williams
74 Audra Burks
74 Allison Hanna-Williams
74 Jimin Jeong
74 Nicole Jeray
74 Lisa Fernandes
74 Catherine Matranga
74 Celeste Troche
74 Yeon Joo Lee
74 Janell Howland
74 Na Ri Kim
74 Kristie Smith
74 Onnarin Sattayabanphot
74 Brooke Tull
74 Jennifer Ackerson
74 Kelly Cap
74 Sarah Huarte
74 Song Hee Kim
74 Kristen Samp
74 Leah Hart
75 Lauren Espinosa
75 Sae Hee Son
75 Michelle Ellis
75 Paige Mackenzie
75 Paula Marti
75 Chris Brady
75 Pornanong Phatlum
75 Lori Atsedes
75 Whitney Wade
75 Louise Stahle
76 Michelle Simpson
76 Vikki Laing (Scotland).
76 Kim Welch
76 Beth Bauer
76 Sandra Gal
76 Joanne Morley (England)
76 Ashley Prange
76 Sophia Sheridan
76 Jean Bartholomew
76 Hana Chae
76 Riko Higashio
76 Angie Hill
76 Siew-Ai Lim
76 Caryn Wilson
76 Kelly Lagedrost
76 Isabelle Beisiegel
76 Caroline Larsson
76 Jin Y. Pak
77 Jin Hyun Kim
77 Brandi Jackson
77 LeAnna Wicks
77 Tiffany Tavee
77 Anastasia Kostina
77 Dana Je
77 Mo Martin
77 Song Choi
78 Manuela Maria Tarazona
78 Ashley Gomes
78 D'Rae Ward
79 Patricia Baxter-Johnson
79 Natalie Tucker
79 Lisa Ferrero
79 Vanessa Brockett
79 Annie Young
80 Shayna Miyajima
81 Lee-Anne Pace
81 Danah Ford
81 Shinah Ham
83 Kiran Matharu
83 Diane Irvin

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