Fields full of story lines

Webb and Ochoa battle for No. 2; the rising Creamer looks to keep moving; and Kim hopes to rebound

Karrie Webb and Lorena Ochoa played a round of golf together last Friday that was hardly noticed.

What with Sherri Steinhauer feeling young again and Paula Creamer soaring beyond her years, the world's No. 2- and No. 3-ranked golfers didn't get the attention they might have had a different story line been in place.

For the record, Ochoa shot a 3-under 69 for a two-day total of 140, leaving her three shots off the lead at last week's SBS Open. A jet-lagged Webb countered with a 2-under 70 for the same two-day score of 140. As fate would have it, Webb played one group in front of Ochoa during the final round, with neither able to track down Creamer on Saturday.

But what did happen adds some intrigue to this week's second stop on the LPGA Tour. Entering tomorrow's first round of the $1.2 million Fields Open in Hawaii, the world has a new No. 2 to top-ranked Annika Sorenstam.

Webb managed another 70 to finish alone in third at 6-under 210, three shots in back of Creamer, but one shot ahead of Ochoa, who closed with a ho-hum 71. While that one shot might not seem like much, in the latest computer ratings, Webb and Ochoa switched spots.

TOMORROW'S TEE TIMES First tee 7:15 a.m.: Reilley Rankin, Virada Nirapathpongporn, Sarah Lynn Sargent 7:25: Wendy Doolan, Laurie Rinker, Dorothy Delasin 7:35: Beth Bader, Kelli Kuehne, Becky Morgan 7:45: Janice Moodie, Lee Ann Walker-Cooper, Maru Martinez 7:55: Ji-Young Oh, Jamie Hullett, Hee-Young Park 8:05: Paige Mackenzie, Vicki Goetze-Ackerman, Angela Park 8:15: Candy Hannemann, Hiromi Mogi, Silvia Cavalleri 8:25: Carin Koch, Wendy Ward, Young Kim 8:35: Sophie Gustafson, Rachel Hetherington, Lorie Kane 8:45: Diana D'Alessio, Danielle Ammaccapane, Helen Alfredsson 8:55: Jeong Jang, Aree Song, Maria Hjorth 9:05: Christa Johnson, Candie Kung, Jimin Kang 11:45: Patricia Meunier-Lebouc, Juli Inkster, Laura Davies 11:55: Julieta Granada, Natalie Gulbis, Morgan Pressel 12:05 p.m.: Se Ri Pak, Christina Kim, Cristie Kerr 12:15: Brittany Lang, Mi Hyun Kim, Hee-Won Han 12:25: Nicole Perrot, Pat Hurst, Lindsey Wright 12:35: Amy Hung, Ashley Hoagland, *Kimberly Kim 12:45: Moira Dunn, Kim Saiki-Maloney, Jackie Gallagher-Smith 12:55: Akiko Fukushima, Sae-Hee Son, Katherine Hull 1:05: Young Jo, A.J. Eathorne, Soo Young Moon 1:15: Marcy Hart, Erica Blasberg, Kristy McPherson 1:25: Jill McGill, Jin Joo Hong, Heather Daly-Donofrio 10th tee 7:15 a.m.: Charlotte Mayorkas, Cindy Rarick, Katie Futcher 7:25: Christi Cano, Lisa Fernandes, Michelle Ellis 7:35: In-Bee Park, Nadina Light, Michelle McGann 7:45: Kimberly Hall, Allison Hanna-Williams, Karin Sjodin 7:55: Tracy Hanson, Alena Sharp, Mikaela Parmlid 8:05: Clarissa Childs, Becky Iverson, Meaghan Francella 8:15: Mhairi McKay, Sherri Turner, Hye Jung Choi 8:25: Brittany Lincicome, Shiho Oyama, Lorena Ochoa 8:35: Laura Diaz, Sakura Yokomine, Paula Creamer 8:45: Ai Miyazato, Meena Lee, Karrie Webb 8:55: Nicole Castrale, Soo-Yun Kang, Jee Young Lee 9:05: Il Mi Chung, Sherri Steinhauer, Liselotte Neumann 11:45: Karine Icher, Kyeong Bae, Jennifer Rosales 11:55: Stacy Prammanasudh, Heather Young, Nancy Scranton 12:05: Seon Hwa Lee, Marisa Baena, Gloria Park 12:15: Michele Redman, Birdie Kim, Angela Stanford 12:25: Suzann Pettersen, Joo Mi Kim, Dawn Coe-Jones 12:35: Nina Reis, Sarah Lee, Riko Higashio 12:45: Giulia Sergas, Shinobu Moromizato, In-Kyung Kim 12:55: Leta Lindley, Carri Wood, Kris Tamulis 1:05: Momoko Ueda, Tina Barrett, Aram Cho 1:15: Johanna Head, Na Ri Kim, Young-A Yang 1:25: Sun Young Yoo, Irene Cho, Song-Hee Kim

Sorenstam, who decided to skip both Hawaii events for a second consecutive season, remained No. 1 with a ranking of 13.10, down from 13.27 the week before. Webb eased past Ochoa into second with a 10.68 score, up from 10.47 the week before. Ochoa slipped from 10.67 last week to 10.48 this week.

That's a lot of numbers, but suffice to say both golfers are on an upward swing in their respective careers and it's likely both will cut into Sorenstam's margin when the next rankings appear on Monday. And don't forget about Creamer in the grand scheme of things -- she jumped to No. 5 in the world with her first win in 19 months, after being named rookie of the year in 2005.

Creamer began the LPGA season ranked No. 8 and has as much incentive as Ochoa and Webb in catching Sorenstam. Creamer could conceivably pass Cristie Kerr at No. 4 worldwide with another stellar showing this weekend as the Ko Olina Resort plays host to the best in the women's game.

"I'm exactly where I want to be, back in the winner's circle," Creamer said. "I want to win as much as I can this year. Every week is different. Last week has happened, but I have a tournament this week, too. But winning is a great feeling I haven't had in a while. It changes, a little bit, just in my confidence, knowing I can do it, and going out there and finishing as well as I can each week."

Nine of the top 10 players are here competing for the $180,000 first prize. Defending champion Meena Lee rallied from seven shots off the pace last year. Her career-low 65 in Saturday's final round led to a three-hole playoff with fellow South Korean Seon Hwa Lee, who was the 2006 rookie of the year. Michelle Wie added to the exciting finish by going head-to-head with American rival Morgan Pressel.

Wie won the battle with Pressel, but lost the war, missing a birdie attempt at the last that would have put her in a three-way tie for first. Wie was last seen at the NBA All-Star weekend in Las Vegas with a pink cast on her left wrist. The Kraft Nabisco Championship is six weeks away, leaving Wie a narrow window of opportunity to play in the first major on the LPGA Tour.

Interestingly, Wie is No. 14 worldwide, despite competing in only 16 events during the current Rolex Rankings period. By comparison, Ochoa has played in 51 tournaments. Pressel's performance at the SBS Open earned her a No. 17 ranking, up five spots from the week before. She could pass Wie if she plays well this weekend.

Pressel entered the final round of the SBS Open tied for first with Steinhauer and Creamer, but faded down the stretch with a 2-over 74 that left her in a tie for fourth. The conditions were wicked in Saturday's final round as the tradewinds made a rare appearance along the North Shore.

Strong winds are expected to greet the 138 women teeing it up tomorrow, including former Hilo resident Kimberly Kim, who missed the cut last week, thanks in part to a second-round 79.

Webb said last week that one of her goals is to track down Sorenstam and regain the No. 1 ranking she held at the beginning of the 21st century, only to lose it along the way as Sorenstam recommitted herself to the women's game.

"I am very happy with my game in the first tournament of the season," Webb said. "I trusted my game particularly the last two days. That's something I need to continue to do. I think I'm pretty confident in where I'm heading. I'm doing what I want on the golf course most of the time.

"Everyone's human. I think I do have shots where I still have a lot of doubt, but I have a process to go through now. If my brain is really noisy with all those bad thoughts, I can take a couple of deep breaths and get back to where I can tell myself that's really where I want to hit the shot."