Isle golfers struggle at Women’s Open

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It wasn't a good day for the island girls.

U.S. Women's Open At Edina, Minn. First-round leaderboard 1T. Ji Young Oh 67 1T. Pat Hurst 67 3. Song-Hee Kim 68 Hawaii golfers 95T. Kimberly Kim 77 124T. Cyd Okino 79 146T. Michelle Wie 81

Highlighted by Michelle Wie's blowup at the par-4 ninth, all three players with ties to Hawaii shot over par during yesterday's opening round of the U.S. Women's Open at Edina, Minn.

Michelle Wie tumbled out of contention by taking a 9 at No. 9, making the turn in 42 and finishing with an 8-over 81.

Ji Young Oh and Pat Hurst are tied for the lead at 6-under 67, leaving Wie and Co. with a lot of ground to make up if they are to play through this weekend.

Wie, who had to qualify for the first time since the eighth grade, was left in a state of shock at the ninth, where a bad drive in the right rough led to her demise. She enters today's second round tied for No. 146. Her playing partner, Kimberly Kim, who is from Pahoa, shot a 4-over 77 and is tied for 95th. Punahou's Cyd Okino opened with a 6-over 79 and is tied for No. 124.

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EDINA, Minn. » Gathering clouds gave way to sunshine, the first of many surprises yesterday in a U.S. Women's Open that didn't go the way anyone expected, least of all Pat Hurst.

Her day had a happy ending, one last birdie for a 6-under 67 and a share of the lead with Ji Young Oh.

Annika Sorenstam twice made back-to-back bogeys and wound up with a 75, her highest first-round score in a Women's Open since she opened with a 76 in 1992 at Oakmont when she was a 22-year-old amateur.

Lorena Ochoa and Cristie Kerr, who have combined to win three of the last four LPGA majors, played alongside an 18-year-old freshman at UCLA and couldn't keep up. Maria Jose Uribe of Colombia, the Women's Amateur champion, showed passion and fist pumps and hardly any fear on her way to a 4-under 69 that kept the gallery riveted.

Michelle Wie even got in on the act.

One minute she looked like she was on the road to recovery, the next minute she crashed to a quintuple-bogey 9 at the turn that sent her to an 81, the second straight year she failed to break 80 in the opening round.

"It was just one bad hole. And it's a U.S. Open," Wie said. "It will bite you in the butt."

Pahoa's Kimberly Kim, who was paired with Wie, shot a 4-over 77 and Punahou's Cyd Okino finished with a 6-over 79.

Hurst was chewing herself out early in the round, never imagining she would have anything to smile about in the late afternoon sun over Interlachen. She missed yet another short putt -- the very reason she hasn't made a cut since the last week in May -- and began complaining to her caddie about a vicious cycle she couldn't shake.

"I was whining," she said. "I was being a golfer."

Hurst rolled in a 35-foot birdie out of nowhere that kicked off a stretch of 6 under through seven holes. She looked over at her caddie with surprise and mock disgust, then kept right on rolling.

"It just turned it all around right there," she said.

She birdied the 16th hole, reached the par-5 18th in two with a 3-wood for a two-putt birdie, then took advantage on the consecutive par 5s on the front nine. Hurst hit a slight fade with her 7-wood up the hill to a right hole location on the par-5 second and made a 15-foot eagle, then capped off her big run with a sand wedge to another elevated green that stopped 10 feet away.

Before a gallery that grew quickly -- they were waiting for Sorenstam, who was playing behind her -- Hurst hit an 8-iron that hopped onto the fringe, rolled along the bowl-shaped green and settled 3 feet away for one final birdie and her lowest round ever in the Open.

"There was never a point where I felt like I was going to go low," said Hurst, whose previous best round was a 69.

Song-Hee Kim was another shot back after a 68, while Louise Friberg, Ji-Yai Shin and Uribe were at 69. Laura Davies, who won the Open in 1987 and needs one more major to get into the World Golf Hall of Fame, was among those at 70.

Thirty-two players broke par, the most for an opening round of the Women's Open since 43 players shot under par in 1999 at Old Waverly in Mississippi.

The Donald Ross design has five par 5s, which helps. The greens received a good dose of water overnight, and the overcast conditions made them even more receptive to approach shots.

Oh was in the morning group and didn't have to work terribly hard on the greens. All seven of her birdies were inside 10 feet, and four of them were inside 2 feet.

"I love hitting my drivers and short irons," Oh said. "And for that, I think this golf course suits my game pretty well."

Ochoa noticed the low scores on the leaderboards, and was asked if she was surprised.

"I was just disappointed that it was not me," she said. "Because it was playing fairly easy in the morning. For sure, I could have finished 2- or 3-under par and been in a better position. But I think it will come back. The U.S. Open is always tough, and I'm OK where I am."

Sorenstam has work to do.

She was 2 under through seven holes, and putting cost her again. She had a 10-foot birdie putt on the 18th that she ran by the cup, and was stunned when her par putt swirled around the cup. She made back-to-back bogeys on the front nine, and thought she could at least end her day on a positive note with a beautiful approach to 6 feet on the ninth.

She missed that one, too, and now finds herself eight shots out of the lead.

"A few putts go in, it would have been a different story," she said. "I've just got to be patient and get off to a good start tomorrow morning and keep it. I know I've got the game and I love the golf course. Long ways to go."