Trish Johnson shares lead in Legends Championship
By LISA MICKEY
FRENCH LICK, Indiana – Defending champion Juli Inkster has company at the top of
the leaderboard after today’s first round of The Legends Championship
presented by Old National Bank.
Inkster,
along with Becky Iverson of Wisconsin and England’s Trish Johnson, each
carded rounds of 4-under 68 on the Pete Dye Course at French Lick
Resort.
With
afternoon storms in the weather forecast, tournament organizers sent
players off the first and tenth tees and were able to dodge inclement
weather in today’s opening round. The field of 58 players completed play
without suspension.
“We
got incredibly lucky,’’ said Johnson, last year’s runner-up to Inkster
in the Legends’ major championship. “I thought we were going to get
annihilated when we started hearing the storm on the 12th tee, [but] then it stopped.’’
Iverson
led for most of the first round after making birdie on three of her
first four holes. The native of Gladstone, Michigan striped solid iron
shots to set up short putts for birdie. At one point, she reached five
under, but was forced to scramble on her last four holes.
“I
was pretty tired,’’ quipped Iverson, a former LPGA Tour member who is
now the director of golf at The Bridges course in Madison, Wis. “Golf
should be 14 holes.’’
Starting
on No. 10, Iverson rolled in a 40-foot birdie putt at No. 13, but she
began unraveling on the front nine holes. She took bogey at No. 7 – her
16th hole – and was forced to sink 10-footers to save pars on her final two holes.
Inkster had her own struggles, losing a ball on the par-5 fourteenth hole to record what she called “a good bogey.”
“That
was key,” said Inkster, who bounced back with an 18-foot birdie putt on
the next hole and moved into a share of the lead with a four-foot
birdie on No. 18. “It kept my round together.’’
Winner
of the 2014 Women’s Scottish Open, Johnson’s solid iron play kept her
in the hunt all day. Each of her four birdies came from six feet or
less.
“It’s
an incredibly difficult golf course but, like anything, if it suits
your eye, you seem to play well,’’ said Johnson, who was the first-round
leader in last year’s championship.
Johnson
was eventually eclipsed in the 2015 event by Inkster, making her
Legends Tour debut, when Inkster recorded birdies on four of her last
six holes to win by two strokes. The former European Solheim Cup team
stalwart hopes to reverse that finish on Sunday.
But
she will also have to battle seven-time Legends Tour winner Rosie
Jones, along with Michele Redman, a former Indiana University collegian
and current University of Minnesota women’s golf coach, who trail the
leaders by one shot at 3-under 69.
Australian Wendy Doolan and LPGA Hall of Famer Patty Sheehan of Reno, Nev., are two shots off the lead at 2-under 70.
Jan
Stephenson of Australia leads the seven-player Honors Division, for
players age 63 and over. Winner of the division for the last three
championships, Stephenson stands at 2-over 74, three shots ahead of
Arizona’s Shelley Hamlin, in spite of three three-putt greens.
Sunday’s final round of The Legends Championship presented by Old National Bank starts at 8 a.m., off the first tee only.
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Labels: Senior pros
