Safeway Classic – 1st Round

Angela Park fired a 66 to take the first-round lead at the Safeway Classic. Six players are tied for second after their rounds of 67 – Song-Hee Kim, Karen Stupples, Helen Alfredsson, Kelli Kuehne, Hee Young Park and Sophie Gustafson.

Angela went out in 32 and completed her round without a bogey. The two Swedes, Alfredsson and Gustafson, also played bogey-free. Kuehne was +3 through five holes but birdied eight of the last 13. Other scores:

68 Hee-Won Han, Katie Futcher, Stephanie Louden, Liz Janangelo
69 Lorena Ochoa, Paula Creamer, Suzann Pettersen, Laura Diaz
69 Lindsey Wright, Leta Lindley, Catriona Matthew, Jamie Hullett
70 Inbee Park, Karrie Webb, Jee Young Lee, Maria Hjorth
70 Angela Stanford, Tracy Hanson, Shanshan Feng, Diana D’Alessio
71 Na Yeon Choi, Seon Hwa Lee, Cristie Kerr, Morgan Pressel
72 Annika Sorenstam, Jeong Jang, Eun-Hee Ji, Teresa Lu
73 Sun Young Yoo, Natalie Gulbis, Louise Friberg, Michele Redman
74 Christina Kim, Jane Park, Stacy Prammanasudh, Sandra Gal
75 Se Ri Pak, Shi Hyun Ahn, Pat Hurst
76 Yani Tseng, Nicole Castrale, Candie Kung

Five players have already withdrawn – Jin Joo Hong, Birdie Kim and Grace Park before the round, and Meena Lee and Seol-An Jeon afterwards.

If you listened to Inside The LPGA this week, you heard the latest bad HD prediction. Apparently still feeling the effects of last Sunday’s collapse in Canada, Yani Tseng double-bogeyed twice en route to a 76. She did manage four birdies but her aggressive approach can really magnify any mistake she makes. I still think she’ll be ok but it looks like my choice of Yani as a CYA pick this week was misguided.

On a related topic, it’s good to see Sophie Gustafson near the top of the board again. She hasn’t finished better than T24 since her final round misadventure at the Ginn Tribute.