LPGA Sectional Qualifying Tournament

SOLID START BY SAMANTHA BUT KIRAN
NEEDS TO IMPROVE AT VENICE, FLORIDA

England's Samantha Head and Kiran Matharu shot one-under-par 71 and 74 respectively in the opening round LPGA Sectional Qualifying Tournament at the Plantation Golf & Country Club, Venice in Florida.
Samantha is lying joint 11th, four shots behind leader Na-Yeon Choi of South Korea.
Kira is joint 42nd, on the same 74 mark as another Ladies European Tour player, France's Gwladys Nocera.
Choi currently holds a one-stroke lead over Angie Hill of Ohio and Shayna Miyajima of Hawaii, who each shot 68 to tie for second place.
Choi, who began her round on hole 10 of the 6,412-yard Bobcat Course, made six straight pars to start her day. She birdied hole 16 to make the turn at one-under-par. Choi finished strongly, making birdies on holes 2, 4, 7 and 8 to end the day with a bogey-free 67.
The South Korean has won on the Korean LPGA once in each of her four years on the tour, including a three-stroke victory two weeks ago at the Shinsegye Cup KLPGA Championship. She is currently fourth on the 2007 KLPGA money list after making the cut in all 12 of her starts this year with eight top-10 finishes.
She missed the cut at both the US Women's Open and the Evian Masters.
Hill, who tied for medalist honours in Venice (Florida) last year at 2-under-par 286, fired a 4-under-par 68 to tie for second place following the first-round. Hill used birdies on holes 5, 6 and 9 to make the turn at 3-under-par on the 6,226-yard Panther Course. After a bogey on hole 10, Hill made three consecutive birdies on holes 11, 12 and 13. She made bogey on 15 before missing a six-foot putt on 18 for birdie to finish the day at 4-under 68.
“I played very steady to start,” said Hill. “I made some putts in the beginning and when I made the turn I thought, ‘let's go low.' I made three good birdies and then leveled off, but I was pushing myself.”
Hill played three years of collegiate golf for the College of Charleston, winning three tournaments and the 2006 Southern Conference Championship. She won 2006 Southern Conference Player of the Year honors after finishing the season ranked 20th in NCAA Division I. An Ohio native who recently purchased a home in South Carolina, Hill made 11 cuts in 19 starts on the Duramed Futures Tour this season, including a second place finish at the Jalapeno Duramed Futures Golf Classic in Texas.
Miyajima, who started on hole 10 of the Panther Course, used birdies on holes 12 and 14 and a bogey on 18 to make the turn at 1-under-par. She made birdies on holes 1, 6 and 7 to finish the day at 4-under-par 68.
“I think a lot of it was luck. A lot was skill too, but when you shoot an unbelievable round it has to be a little bit of luck,” said Miyajima. “I don't want to be too confident. I want to shoot the best I can tomorrow.”
A graduate of San Diego State University where she captained the women's golf team in 2003 and 2004, Miyajima has played 27 events on the Duramed Futures Tour in the past two years, making five cuts.
Adrienne Gautreaux of Texas, Hee Young Park of South Korea and Vanessa Brockett of California each finished the day tied for fourth place at 3-under-par 69.
Players are competing on both the Bobcat and Panther courses at Plantation Golf and Country Club, playing each of the courses once before the 36-hole cut is made following the second round.
The final two rounds, which will feature the low 70 players and ties, will be played on the Bobcat Course. The top-30 players and ties at the end of 72 holes will advance to the LPGA Final Qualifying Tournament at LPGA International in Daytona Beach, Fla., Nov. 28-Dec. 2.
The Venice qualifier is the second of the LPGA Tour's two sectional qualifying events in 2007. The first was at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage, Calif., two weeks ago. The top-30 finishers and ties from each qualifier join current LPGA Tour members attempting to improve their status and the players who finished sixth through 15th on the final 2007 Duramed Futures Tour money list at the LPGA Final Qualifying Tournament.
LEADING FIRST ROUND SCORES
Par 72
67 Na-Yeon Choi.
68 Shayna Miyajima, Angie Hill.
69 Adrienne Gautre3aux, Hee Young Park, Vanessa Brockett.
Other scores:
70 Rachel Bailey (jt 7th).
71 Samantha Head (Eng) (jt 11th).
72 Sandra Gal (Ger) (am) (jt 19th).
74 Kiran Matharu (Eng), Gwladys Nocera (Fra) (jt 42nd).