Sybase Classic – 2nd Round

Lorena Ochoa and Sarah Lee share the lead at -9 after two rounds of the Sybase Classic. Rookie Jane Park is third at -7. The leaderboard at lpga.com is all hosed up, so I can’t tell you much more than that. If they have it fixed tomorrow morning, I’ll try to update.

On a cool damp day, Ochoa’s 67 was the lowest round of the day despite three front nine bogeys. Birdies at 17 and 18 moved Lorena into the tie for the lead. Lee had posted her own up-and-down 69 earlier in the day (with morning temps in the 40s) combining three bogeys with an eagle and four birdies.

I don’t know who all missed the cut, because the board is so snafu-ed. It was probably at +3 or +4. I’m pretty sure Jeong Jang and Julieta Granada missed it.

I got a good laugh at the beginning of the telecast. Did you know that we have nine different winners over the first nine events in 2007 simply because Annika Sorenstam hasn’t been playing? Some nincompoop at ESPN convinced the booth trio, because they all relayed that “fact” to us and kept straight faces the entire time. The gist of the logic was, with no Annika looming, more (and “lesser”) players feel like they can make a run at winning a tournament. The more I thought about that, the more I laughed. First off, Annika has only missed the last four events prior to this one. She played in three of the first five ’07 tournaments. Meaghan Francella overcame her “inferiority complex” to beat Annika heads up in a playoff. Morgan Pressel won her first LPGA title - a major, no less - despite “worrying” about Annika catching her from behind. And stepping back just a bit, Julieta Granada managed to win a million bucks along with her first tour victory at the 2006 ADT Championship with Sorenstam in the field (of course by Sunday, the Swede had gone home). The only players to get their first victory in 2007 without Annika in the field have been Suzann Pettersen and Silvia Cavalleri. The other victories have been by repeat winners like Creamer, Ochoa, Prammanasudh, Peanut… My wife doesn’t study this stuff like I do, and SHE thought the notion was BS. You could counter with maybe Francella doesn’t win if Annika isn’t hurting, but they didn’t even suggest that because that undermines the original theory…how does Francella have confidence she can beat Annika when she doesn’t even know that Annika is hurt? More holes in their logic than the Upper Montclair Country Club.