19TH HOLE
You can’t do this:
She’s standing on the first tee, stomach fluttering. The crowd is huge. Brittany Lang is 19, an amateur, and not supposed to make noise at a U.S. Open. Instead, she swallows her nerves, rips her tee shot into the fairway, hits a lob wedge to within a foot and smoothly starts with a birdie en route to her 2-under 69 and a share of the lead.
You can do this:
After Morgan Pressel punched her second shot on No. 8 to the edge of the green, she needed a 15-foot putt to save par and keep a share of the lead. Instead, she rolled her putt 10 feet past the hole. The roll back slid past and she finished with a double-bogey 5 on the tough par 3.
HOW IT’S PLAYING
Pin Surprise
Surprise: During practice rounds before the tournament begins, players and caddies often practice chips and putts to where they expect pins to be placed. On Thursday, that didn’t turn out quite as expected.
“There were some pins where, when we walked the course, we were saying, ‘They won’t put a pin there’ and they did,” said John Killeen, caddie for Meg Mallon.
Rough rough: Dealing with the rough off the fairway was expected to be difficult, and that proved to be the case. For the most part, players were lucky if they could wedge their way back onto the short grass, let alone trying to reach a green.
“That’s why we’ve been saying, you’ve got to keep it on the fairway,” said Clayton Cole, head pro at Cherry Hills. “Even Annika (Sorenstam); every time she missed one, she just got out the wedge.”
Rolling, rolling: The conditions of the greens drew a variance of opinions. Some thought they were fine, others, like veteran Rosie Jones, disagreed, saying, “They seem a little bumpy.”
Cole said he suspected there might be problems because of the weather. “I’m wondering if they’re really soft because of the rain we’ve had,” he said.
– Anthony Cotton
BY THE NUMBERS
The Swede Spot
331 – The longest drive of the day, hit from the 17th tee by Sophie Gustafson. The Swede also knocked a 286-yard drive on the par-5 11th hole, making her the biggest hitter of the day with a 305.5-yard driving average.
11 – The hole with Thursday’s only eagle, accomplished by England’s Johanna Head. After Head holed the 522-yard par-5 11th with her third shot, she climbed to 1-under par. She faded to a 74.
100 – Percentage of fairways hit by Emily Bastel of Upper Sandusky, Ohio. Bastel hit straight on each of the 13 holes she teed off from before play was suspended for good because of the weather.
1.35 – The lowest average putts per green, by Korea’s Grace Park. Through 17 holes, Park’s putting kept her in contention at 4-over par. Young Kim followed with a 1.43 average on the green, despite a double bogey on 18 that left her 2-over.
20 – Players at 3-over par after the unfinished first round. The middle of the pack is bunched with 20 players tied at 4-over and 13 at 2-over par.
-Nick Groke
