United States Womes's Open under way at Interlachen

Good start by Catriona Matthew as

Michelle Wie has 81, including a 9

Michelle Wie crashed out of contention on the opening morning of the US Women's Open.
She ran up a 9 at the par-4 ninth hole, reaching the turn in 42 and falling nine shots behind the early leaders.
The 18-year-old from Hawaii eventually finished on 81 - 11 more than North Berwick's Catriona Matthew who got the kind of start you need in a major: a three-under-par 70 which put her three shots behind the joint first-day leaders, Pat Hurst and Ji Young Oh.
The "Big Two," Lorena Ochoa and Annika Sorenstam, did not set the heather alight with scores of 73 and 75 respectively.
But at least they broke 80. Ladies European Tour No 1 Gwladys Nocera from France had an 81 which put her 146th equal in a field of 156. Very disappointing.
Wie, who had to qualify for the first time since the eighth grade, arrived at Interlachen, Minnesota showing signs that her wrist injuries were healed and her confidence improving.
One hole left her in a state of shock.
She pulled her tee shot into the right rough, then tried to hit a low approach through the trees to an elevated green. The shot came up about 30 yards short, and she bladed her wedge over the green, facing a steep, downhill chip.
She tried a flop shot, but it came up inches short of the fringe. Using a putter for her fifth shot, the ball bounced out quickly, rolled down the ridge and off the green. Her chip reached the top of the slope, then trickled back to her feet as she turned away before it stopped rolling. Her seventh shot made it up the ridge to 5 feet behind the hole, but she missed the putt.
A year ago, Wie also shot 42 the last nine she played at the Women's Open. Then she withdrew halfway through the second round at Pine Needles last year.
To be fair, Wie had shown improved form of late. She was second at her 36-hole US Women's Open qualifier, and tied for 24th last week on the LPGA Tour.
Hot favourite Lorena Ochoa was six shots off the early pace with an uninspired 73, uninspired that is by the Mexican's very high standards.
But Scotland's Catriona Matthew started well to post a three-under-par 70 over the 6,789yd course.
Janice Moodie did not do so well. The Glasgow-born player had a 78.
But Laura Davies matched Catriona's 70.
At 6,789yd, this is the longest course used at a US Women's Open. The most surprising thing about the first day was the number of amateurs who were able to handle it, and the bigger names who couldn't.
Whatever the course, whatever the tournament, the one constant factor on the LPGA Tour nowadays is the number of South Koreans on the leaderboard. The US Women's Open is no exception.
FIRST-ROUND SCOREBOARD
Par 73, 6,789yd
67 Ji Young Oh, Pat Hurst.
68 Song-Hee Kim.
69 Maria Jose Uribe (am), Louise Friberg, Ji-Yai Shin..
70 Catriona Matthew, Laura Davies, Helen Alfredsson, Paula Creamer. Linda Wessberg.
71 Sydnee Michaels (am), Yani Tseng, Teresa Lu, In-Kyung Kim, Rachel Hetherington, Ai Miyazoto, Jee Young Lee, Sakura Yokomine, Brittany Lang.
72 Cristie Kerr, Mina Harigae (am), Candie Kung, Katherine Hull, Momoko Ueda, Reilley Rankin, Tiffany Lua (am), Jessica Korda (am), Minea Blomqvist, Inbee Park, Amanda Blumenherst (am).
Selected scores:
73 Alison Walshe (am), Lorena Ochoa, Crhistina Kim, Natalie Gulbis, Stacy Lewis (am), Mi-Jeong Jeon, Amy Yang.
74 Karen Stupples, Morgan Pressel
75 Karrie Webb, Annika Sorenstam.
76 Se Ri Pak, Maria Hjorth.
78 Lotte Neumann, Janice Moodie.
81 Michelle Wie, Gwladys Nocea.