U.S. Open – 1st Round

Not to overshadow the U.S. Open or anything but it looks like Bivens is outta here....

Na Yeon Choi posted a 68 and holds a one-shot lead after Day One at the 64^th U.S. Women's Open.  Cristie Kerr, Lorena Ochoa and Futures Tour standout Jean Reynolds are tied for second place while Hee Young Park is (surprisingly alone) in fifth place after posting a 70.

Since par is 71, those five players are the only ones under it.  And conditions today were great with very little wind.  The greens weren't holding much but they weren't ridiculous about it either.  I'm standing by my prediction of nobody under par at the end of Sunday's round.  Choi started off blazing with birdies on her first three holes (10, 11 and 12) and four of her first five.  Three putts led to bogey at 17 and out in 32 but birdies at 2 and 3 (a blind chip-in at 2 was the best shot I saw all day) put her at -5.  Bogeys at 5 and 6 brought Na Yeon back to the field.

Kerr bogeyed once, at 7 (the last three front nine holes are a real bear) while Ochoa and Reynolds each bogeyed twice (one of Jean's came at 7 as well).  Park suffered a double at 17 along with a conventional bogey at 5.  The only player without a bogey all day was Candie Kung, who had no birdies either - hence the 71.  Here are the notable scores:

Considering the conditions, the scores were through the roof but don't blame the average of 76.30 completely on the amateurs - just look at the numbers for Alexis Thompson, Jessica Korda, Azahara Munoz and Jennifer Song and compare them to Yani Tseng, Angela Stanford, Seon Hwa Lee and Helen Alfredsson.  Of the 30 players who shot 80 or worse, 12 were amateurs (including unfortunately Kimberly Kim) but 18 were not.  Lee (along with Brandie Burton) withdrew after finishing her round.