Havre de Grace, Md. – As Yogi Berra once famously proclaimed, “It ain’t over till it’s over.”
But he hadn’t seen Annika Sorenstam play golf.
Not that there was the slightest chance Sorenstam would go belly-up on Friday, but after her 68 on Thursday, the Steamrollin’ Swede even did one better. On a hot, muggy day when the pins were tucked to up the ante, she still shot a 5-under 67 – the round of the day – for a 9-under total and a two-shot lead over Laura Davies (67-70) at the midway point of the LPGA Championship.
“They put some pins in evil spots today,” Davies said. “It got really difficult.”
Sorenstam, of course, had no complaints.
“I’m obviously very happy where I’m at and the way I’m playing,” she said. “It’s very steady, hitting fairways and greens. I’m putting well. I could not have asked for a better start.”
Sorenstam’s relentless assault on the tournament’s new, more difficult venue raised the question: What would it take to halt her march toward a three-peat and her second major title of the year? Divine intervention? Locusts? Her assault raised the hackles of her closest pursuer. Davies, 41, is the veteran Brit with the wry wit, winless in four years, who needs only a win this week to assume her place in the LPGA Hall of Fame.
“She hasn’t had a bogey yet this week,” Davies said, almost incredulous over the Sorenstam Stomp. “She’s getting on my nerves.”
Davies can only hope that with that comment she somehow put a hex on Sorenstam. As it happened, as she spoke, Sorenstam, the poor thing, was out on the course, suffering her first bogey in 55 holes – a streak that dated to last week’s ShopRite LPGA Classic in Galloway Township, N.J., her fifth win of the year.
Sorenstam’s maiden miscue of the week occurred at Bulle Rock Golf Club’s behemoth 596-yard 11th hole, very much a three-shot par 5 for the women.
With a fairway bunker looming 255 yards off the tee, she laid back off the tee with a 4-wood, pumped her second shot near the green, then chipped to 10 feet. Alas, she three-putted, missing a 2-footer to save par.
If you had to pick nits about Sorenstam’s otherwise stellar start, it would be that she is par on Bulle Rock’s birdie-friendly par 5s; by contrast, she’s 7-under on the bogey-friendly par 4s.
“I have not played the par 5s well,” she said, slightly baffled. “I thought about it last night and thought today would be better, but it’s worse today. I don’t know what I’m doing wrong. I think I’m playing sensible.”
Despite another solid round by her young playing partner, Natalie Gulbis (67-71), who was a stroke behind Davies at 6-under, Sorenstam took the lead coming down the homestretch. She carded three birdies on the final five holes, starting with a sand-wedge shot to 18 inches on the 14th, another sand-wedge approach to 3 feet on the 16th and a 7-iron to 2 feet on the par-3 17th.
Gulbis, who has never won on the LPGA Tour, is still very much in the picture, as are Marisa Baena (70-69), Tina Fischer (68-71), Laura Diaz (67-72), Moira Dunn (71-68) and Il Mi Chung (71-68), all four shots behind at 5-under.
Eighty players made the 5-over cut, including the lone amateur in the field, Michelle Wie (69-71), who was tied for ninth, five shots behind Sorenstam.
Among those who didn’t survive to the weekend were two-time champion Se Ri Pak (75-78), who had hoped to kick-start her season this week.
