Corona Championship - 1st Round

Defending champion Lorena Ochoa posted a bogey-less round of 65 to take the first-round lead at the Corona Championship.  Na Yeon Choi and Michelle Wie are tied for second place one shot behind with four players tied for fourth - Anna Nordqvist, Sarah Lee, Sandra Gal and Eunjung Yi.

Ochoa birdied four times on each nine, beginning her quest to take this title for the third time in four years on the right note.  Choi too played bogey-less golf highlighted by three straight birdies to start the back nine.  Wie began her round on the back nine with three birdies in four holes, fell back to -2 after a bogey at her 13^th hole but closed out on fire with eagle-birdie-par-birdie-birdie.  Your other Thursday notable scores are:

Despite the bloated par of 73, the Tres Marias layout yielded 23 rounds in the 60s.  With Ochoa already on pace to break her -25 mark set last year (Choi and Wie are too), my call to reduce this course's par to the standard 72 gets louder.  Although I'm sure Ji Young Oh, Laura Diaz and the seven players who shot 80 or worse will disagree with me.

Speaking of Diaz...Life On Tour blogger/caddy Larry mentioned three players yesterday who had gotten their clubs lost by the airlines on the way south, which seems to be a rather common occurrence.  He listed Laura Davies (who isn't in the field so I'll assume he meant Diaz), Stacy Prammanasudh and Allison Fouch.  I wonder if their clubs never did arrive because the scores for that trio today were 78, 75 and 83.  In a sport were the differences in talent are nearly negligible, a handicap on the order of unfamiliar sticks can be huge.

Two players who, if they were able to make the cut this week, would have made significant headway up the Priority Status ladder were Simi Mehra and Hana Kim.  Mehra squeaked into the field on Tuesday and Kim was the first alternate.  Apparently Mehra didn't make her tee time this morning and Kim wasn't at the course either, as they are both listed as DNS.  Why didn't they make the trip to Morelia?  Was the late notice a factor?  Neither is listed in the field for the Futures Tour event which starts tomorrow.  I would love to know the story behind either player's absence.