Tseng holds onto LPGA Championship lead

A double-bogey briefly cost Yani Tseng the lead at the LPGA Championship, but the Taiwanese world number one battled back to cling onto her one-shot lead – the same margin she enjoyed after day one.

Tseng’s two-under par was a far cry from her opening 66, but was still enough to take the halfway advantage over veteran Pat Hurst, who shot 67.

Tseng had started out well from the 10th hole, making three consecutive birdies from the 13th to open up a lead over the field. But after finding trouble off the tee on the 18th she missed a 3-foot putt for bogey to halt her charge. She battled back, however, with a birdie on the next hole and after another dropped shot on the fifth, she carded another birdie at the par-5 8th hole.

Tseng closed at 8-under par 136, one ahead of Hurst.

Hurst’s 67 included seven birdies and two bogeys as she took sole possession of second place, one ahead of Finn Minea Blomqvist, South Korea’s Hee Young Park and American Morgan Pressel. Pressel would have shared second with Hurst, but bogeyed the 18th hole.

Paula Creamer had started the day in second place but dropped into a share of sixth a further shot behind on 5-under par. Creamer shares the spot with fellow American Cindy Lacrosse and South Korean Amy Yang.

Defending champion Cristie Kerr carded a second successive round of 72 to stay on level-par. She was joined by Juli Inkster, Michelle Wie, Natalie Gulbis and Suzann Pettersen amongst others in a group of 12 players.

Scot Catriona Matthew led the British challenge, finishing with a second round 69 to close at 2-under par 142.

Tseng takes first round lead in LPGA Championship

The rain-hit Travelers Championship wasn’t the only event to be interrupted by the elements on Thursday. The LPGA Championship – the second of the major tournaments on the Ladie’s PGA Tour – saw play delayed for over two hours due to a thunderstorm.

Taiwan’s Yani Tseng was among those who managed to complete her round posted a six-under par 66 to take a one shot lead over Paula Creamer, who was in second place following a round of 67.

Tseng is hoping to go one better than in the Kraft Nabisco Championship back in March where she finished runner-up to American Stacy Lewis.

Six players will have to finish their first rounds early on Friday after severe thunderstorms rolled across New York and 58 players were still on the course when play was suspended. Play was finally halted later due to fading light.

South Korea’s Meena Lee and Angela Stanford were part of a group of four after they carded rounds of 4-under par 68, while Finland’s Minea Blomqvist, Taiwan’s Amy Hung, American Morgan Pressel and Park Hee-young of South Korea all shot 69 to close on 3-under par.

Defending champion Cristie Kerr opened the defence of her title with a level-par 72 despite battling the effects of ‘flu. Last year, Kerr won the event at a canter putting a full 12 shots between her and the rest of the field in shooting a 19-under par 269 to win her second major title.

Lewis wins first LPGA title with Kraft Nabisco Championship victory

Stacy Lewis won her first LPGA Major title – and her first on the Tour – with a three shot victory in the first Women’s major title of the year, the Kraft Nabisco Championship at Mission Hills Country Club.

Lewis, the world number 28, became only the fourth player in the Tour’s history to claim her maiden career victory in a major championship with a final round 69 to close on 13-under par 275, beating world number one, Yani Tseng into second place.

Tseng had gone into the final round with a two shot lead, but slumped to a closing 2-over par 74.
“I was shaking, just trying to calm down, my heart was racing, and I was gathering my thoughts. I still had five more shots that I needed to make sure I paid attention to.” Lewis told reporters after her win.

A three-way tie saw an all-American trio share third, with Katie Fucher sharing with Angela Stanford and Morgan Pressel on 4-under par.

Pressel had started the day four behind the lead, but had reached 10-under through the first five holes before a triple-bogey seven at the next derailed her challenge. She again got to double-figures with three more birdies, but a double bogey on the 13th was followed by a quadruple-bogey on the 16th hole.

Michelle Wie shot a final round 75, but still held on for sixth place on 3-under par, one ahead of Julieta Granada of Paraguay, and Japanese pair Mika Miyazato and Chie Arimura.

Karrie Webb, seeking a third successive victory in 2011, shot a 71 to finish level-par for the tournament and tied-13th with Brittany Lincicome.

Karen Stupples finished as top Brit, shooting a final round 78 to finish 4-over for the tournament, one ahead of Becky Morgan and Melissa Reid.

LPGA scrap Tres Marias Championship

Fears about violence linked to the Mexican drug trade has forced the LPGA to scrap this year’s renewal of the $1.3million Tres Marias Championship.

Tournament officials scrapped the event, which had been due to be played between April 21-24th in Morelia, after the ongoing in-fighting between rival drug gangs showed little sign of abating in the north-central region of the country.

The Morelia region of Mexico is home to the bloody La Familia cartel, which reportedly is responsible for killing at least 12 federal police officers since 2009.

“We hope to return next year, but would need to see significant improvement from a safety perspective,” an LPGA spokesman said, adding that the tour was concerned about the safety of the players.

It had been rumoured for some time that the LPGA were likely to delay, or even shelve, the event due to the troubles although the event is contracted to be staged until 2012.

With the LPGA anxious to grow its circuit after losing several events to a lack of sponsorship, losing any tournament is a huge blow, and so the Tour may yet look to resurrect the event later in the season.

The 2010 event was won by Japan’s Ai Miyazato, and also saw the retirement of then-world number one, Lorena Ochoa.

Pressel charity event raises $500,000 for breast cancer research

The recent fourth annual Morgan & Friends golf tournament, hosted by LPGA Tour star Morgan Pressel raised a massive $500,000 for breast cancer research.

Breast cancer is a cause close to Pressel’s heart, and the player lost her own mother to the disease. In all, Pressel’s charity fund-raising event has raised $1.7 million for research into the cancer.

Joining Pressel in the event were PGA player and Ryder Cup star Rickie Fowler, as well as fellow LPGA stars Natalie Gulbis, Paula Creamer and Angela Stanford. Putting maestros Dave and Ron Stockton are regular participants in the event, and once again took park to honour Pressel’s mother, Kathryn Krickstein Pressel, who died from the disease aged just 43 in 2003.

“Through my personal experience with breast cancer, I am now using golf as a platform to raise awareness and make a difference – not only in treatment, but in prevention and diagnosis,” Pressel said in an e-mail prior to last year’s tournament.

“I am thankful that my current position in the golf world has enabled me to raise significant funds to help in the quest to vanquish this dreaded disease that seems to affect every one of us through family or friends.”

More information on the Morgan and friends charity event can be found at http://www.morganandfriends.us/

« Previous Page — Next Page »