Longs Drugs – 2nd Round

Defending champion Karrie Webb and a resurgent Lorie Kane are tied for the lead after two rounds at the Longs Drugs Challenge. Lorena Ochoa is one shot back in third place at -5 with Se Ri Pak, Kristy McPherson, Suzann Pettersen, Juli Inkster and Charlotte Mayorkas all tied for fourth at -4.

Scoring was still difficult Friday even though several players were able to make a good run. Pettersen’s 65 lead the way, followed by Inkster’s 66. Both Webb and Kane managed 69s to end up at the top of the board. After a lackluster couple of seasons, Kane seems to be getting her game back. Her best finish of the year was 19th last week at Navistar. There are only 23 players under par for the tournament including McPherson and Johanna Head (-1), who are fighting for Top 90 status. Most of the bubble players managed to make the cut; the exceptions were Jamie Hullett and Erica Blasberg. Blasberg was disqualified for not signing her scorecard – I’d like to hear the story about how that went down! Maybe Larry will have the scoop. Anyway, neither of those two will be making the Top 90 now. First-round leaders Inbee Park and Pat Hurst slumped to rounds of 75 and 76, falling four and five shots back respectively.

The cut rose to +6 and knocked out Ai Miyazato (again!), Brittany Lang, Janice Moodie and Michelle McGann, among others. The smaller field helped Morgan Pressel, Paula Creamer and Sarah Lee escape the same fate. Mi Hyun Kim withdrew during her round, citing a back injury. Aree Song had withdrawn prior to the round for the same reason. After following Grace Park’s struggles with back problems the last couple of years, I hope neither of these players is about to go through a similar period.