Cherry Hills Village – One of the golf’s crustiest adages holds that it’s not how, but rather how many. In a sense, though, the third round of the U.S. Women’s Open at Cherry Hills Country Club on Saturday provided a pretty good argument for both sides of the old saw.
Everywhere someone in the single-day record crowd of 29,989 turned, there was a compelling story high on the leaderboard, with each player arriving there in her own way. There are two amateurs, 15-year-old Michelle Wie and Morgan Pressel, just two years her senior, among the three co-leaders. They share the top spot with Karen Stupples, who moved up from a tie for eighth in part on the strength of six consecutive birdies (holes 9-14).
Included among three players just one shot back of the leaders is Paula Creamer. An 18-year-old rookie on the LPGA tour, Creamer was looked at askance when she said she wanted to win a major championship this season. Now, Creamer is in reach of doing just that.
“It’s just a goal that I really want to achieve,” she said Saturday after her 1-over-par 72. “I’m just very motivated. I’ve always been very competitive. I don’t like to lose. I think I’ve learned the most from the times I’ve come in second, but all those times have just given me more fire. I just don’t like to lose, period.”
On a course that is expected to only get tougher over the course of the day, 22 players are within five shots of the leaders. Included in that sizable gaggle are rising stars (Lorena Ochoa, Natalie Gulbis) and savvy veterans (Liselotte Neumann, Rosie Jones). Some, like Cristie Kerr or Angela Stanford, could anchor themselves in the game’s pecking order with a win.
It will be left to today’s final 18 holes – maybe – to discern which story will emerge triumphant. Then again, some would argue that the eventual winner will be the woman everyone expected to come out ahead when this shindig began.
Annika Sorenstam shot a 2-over 73 on Saturday, but still managed to gain a shot on the leaders from the end of the second round. Although Sorenstam is trailing by five shots, the argument goes, if the world’s most dominant player were to start out strongly, posting a low number, there’s every chance that she would once again at least cause the leaders to begin glancing over their shoulders.
“I am running out of holes, but I need to get off to a good start tomorrow,” she said. “I need to climb on that leaderboard and show them I am still here and I am serious, and we’ll see.
“I don’t think I am going to need a miracle round, but it needs to be good.”
The theme at the start of the tournament was Sorenstam’s quest to win the Grand Slam of four major championships in the same season. Today, history of another sort could be made – a victory by Wie, Pressel or Creamer would make any of them the youngest Open winner. A triumph by either of the first two would make her just the second amateur winner, joining Catherine Lacoste, the 1967 winner.
“I actually saw that on Golf Channel trivia the other day,” said Wie, who shot a 1-over 72.
Here’s a trivia question: Who was the last player not named Annika Sorenstam to win a women’s major championship?
That would be Stupples, who shot a final-round 64 at Sunningdale to win the British Open last summer. One would think that would give the 32-year-old some sort of edge, at least over her younger competitors, entering today’s final round, but Stupples isn’t sure that’s the case.
For one thing, she says her form this week “has been a little up and down. Although I felt really close for a long time, it hasn’t really been there for me.”
For another thing, this week – and most weeks on tour these days, it seems – it doesn’t appear experience really counts for much of anything.
As Sorenstam is fond of saying, the golf ball doesn’t know who’s hitting it – just, particularly with the likes of Wie, Creamer and Pressel, that there doesn’t seem to be any fear involved in the process.
“You know, I don’t even think it would matter if there was money at stake,” Pressel said. “I am a competitor, and I want to win whether it means money or not. I mean, second, third, fourth, it’s not really that much of a difference.
“It’s not that big of a deal; no one remembers who finished second. They remember who won.”
Staff writer Anthony Cotton can be reached at 303-820-1292 or acotton@denverpost.com.
LEADERBOARD
Leaders
Karen Stupples 75-70-69-214
a-Morgan Pressel 71-73-70-214
a-Michelle Wie 69-73-72-214
Followers
Birdie Kim 74-72-69-215
Young Jo 74-71-70-215
Paula Creamer 74-69-72-215
Young Kim 73-73-70-216
Angela Stanford 69-74-73-216
Notables
a-Brittany Lang 69-77-72-218
Annika Sorenstam 71-75-73-219
Natalie Gulbis 70-75-74-219
Karine Icher 69-75-75-219
Lorena Ochoa 74-68-77-219
Meg Mallon 71-74-75-220
SUNDAY TEE TIMES
The times below reflect Denver time.
1 6:50 Jean Bartholomew
2 7:00 Candy Hannemann Carri Wood
3 7:10 Kaori Higo Se Ri Pak
4 7:20 Brittany Lincicome Dorothy Delasin
5 7:30 Eva Dahllof Amie Cochran
6 7:40 Katie Futcher Suzann Pettersen
7 7:50 Stephanie Louden Katie Allison
8 8:00 Sarah Lee Sophie Gustafson
9 8:10 Jeong Jang Juli Inkster
10 8:20 Wendy Ward Gloria Park
11 8:30 Nancy Scranton Sarah Huarte
12 8:40 Kris Tschetter Il Mi Chung
13 8:50 Johanna Head Hee Won Han
14 9:00 Grace Park Soo Yun Kang
15 9:10 Karrie Webb Leta Lindley
16 9:20 Lorie Kane Mi Hyun Kim
17 9:30 Kim Saiki Jennifer Rosales
18 9:40 Amanda McCurdy Catriona Matthew
19 9:50 Meg Mallon Laura Diaz
20 10:00 Beth Bader Lorena Ochoa
21 10:10 Rachel Hetherington Karine Icher
22 10:20 Natalie Gulbis Helen Alfredsson
23 10:30 Rosie Jones Annika Sorenstam
24 10:40 Aree Song Paige Mackenzie
25 10:50 Heather Bowie Nicole Perrot
26 11:00 Liselotte Neumann Brittany Lang
27 11:10 Tina Barrett Cristie Kerr
28 11:20 Candie Kung Jamie Hullett
29 11:30 Angela Stanford Young Kim
30 11:40 Paula Creamer Young Jo
31 11:50 Birdie Kim Michelle Wie
32 12:00 Morgan Pressel Karen Stupples
