OAKMONT, Pa. — Temperatures were in the 90s. Michelle Wie was in the 80s. On a demanding day when tough old Oakmont Country Club illustrated again that playing par golf can be an achievement, only Brittany Lang was in the 60s.
Lang withstood Oakmont’s slick, sun-browned greens and the unrelenting heat to shoot a 2-under-par 69 on Thursday to take a one-shot lead over 2008 champion Inbee Park, amateur Kelli Shean and two others in the first round of the U.S. Women’s Open.
“You said it couldn’t be done, but on any golf course you can shoot a low number,” Lang said. “If you’re hitting the ball good, you can for sure shoot a low score out here. But if you’re not on your game, you can shoot a big one.”
Rolling in a 40-foot putt on the 442-yard 15th hole to seize a two-shot lead before giving up a stroke at the difficult 18th, Lang managed to shoot the round of the day at a time of the day — late afternoon and early evening — when Oakmont’s greens were chewed up and unpredictable.
Shean, a South Africa native who was pushed to become a world- class golfer by idol Ernie Els, and South Korea’s Park were joined at 1-under 70 by two other Korean golfers, M.J. Hur and Amy Yang.
Sakura Yokomine of Japan and Scotland’s Mhairi McKay, who teed off at a yawn-producing 7 a.m. EDT as part of the first threesome on the course, were alone at even-par 71.
Cristie Kerr, America’s first world No. 1-ranked golfer following her monumental 12-shot win at the LPGA Championship two weeks ago, was among a more-than-crowded group of 14 at 1-over 72.
She was glad to be there too.
“I think that’s a pretty good start for me,” said Kerr, who bogeyed the first two holes but came back almost immediately with two birdies.
Lang has convinced herself she could contend again at the Women’s Open, which she threatened to win as an amateur in 2005. She wound up tied for second with fellow amateur-at-the-time Morgan Pressel, two shots behind winner Birdie Kim at Denver’s Cherry Hills Country Club.
Shean, a 22-year-old University of Arkansas golfer, saw her career develop after she enrolled in a junior program sponsored by Els.
Wie, the LPGA Tour’s longest driver, didn’t alter her aggressive style on a course that demands patience and persistence. She paid the price with her worst round (82) since an 84 at the Evian Masters in 2007.
Clarke leads in Scotland
LUSS, Scotland — Darren Clarke upstaged fellow Northern Irishman Graeme McDowell with a 6-under 65 to take a one-shot lead after the first round of the Scottish Open.
McDowell, returning to tournament golf and his European Tour roots for the first time since his win at the U.S. Open, shot a 71 on a blustery day at Loch Lomond.
