KirkwoodGolf: LPGA TOUR REPORT, SCORES

Sunday, May 16, 2010

LPGA TOUR REPORT, SCORES

Janice Moodie lying seventh
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in LPGA Classic


Glasgow's Janice Moodie is heading for her highest finish and biggest payday on the LPGA Tour for some time. The Scot is lying in seventh position, four shots off the pace, with one round to go in the Bell Micro LPGA Classic at Mobile, Alabama.
The former Solheim Cup player, pictured right by Cal Carson Golf Agency, has had scores of 67, 72 and 67 for 10-under-par 206.
Norway's Suzann Pettersen shot a 7-under 65 on Saturday for a share of the lead with Brittany Lincicome and Se Ri Pak.
Pettersen followed two birdies with an eagle on the par-5 sixth, and joined Lincicome (67) and second-round leader Pak (68) at 13 under 203 on the Crossings Course at Magnolia Grove, part of the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail.
A six-time winner on the LPGA Tour, Pettersen once again is in contention after finishing second twice and third once in the first five events of the season.
But six players were within two shots of the lead, setting up a last-day scramble.
"With all those names at the top of the leaderboard, nobody's going to back down," said Lincicome, the long-hitting 24-year-old Floridian. "Nobody's going to shoot a high number. A lot of the long hitters are at the top. Sixty-five would be nice."
It was certainly enough for Pettersen to make a big move. She lost by a stroke to Yani Tseng in the Kraft Nabisco Championship, but has gone 35 holes without a bogey.
"I've been feeling good all year," said Pettersen, dealing with a nagging hip injury. "I've been playing really good. I've been outplayed a couple of times when I felt like what I had was going to be good enough, but that's this game. That's the beauty of this game."
The trio and others will jockey for the win with a two-tee morning start Sunday because bad weather is forecast for the afternoon.
Na Yeon Choi (66), Jee Young Lee (66) and Azahara Munoz (67) were 11 under. Michelle Wie had a 76 to drop to 5 over, last among the 73 players who made the cut.
Pettersen pulled even with Pak by opening the back nine with two more birdies and briefly took the lead with another birdie on No. 15. Pak answered right back on No. 16 with her only birdie of the back nine.
As for Pettersen's torn hip muscle, she said the doctor prescribed rest but that's not in the cards quite yet.
"It's not ideal, but I can make it work," Pettersen said.
Pak's 68 kept the Hall of Famer under 70 for the third straight round and in position for her 25th win and first since the 2007 Owens Corning Classic. She won the Tournament of Champions on the same course in 2001 and 2002.
Pak had three birdies on the front 9, and like Pettersen she turned in a bogey-free day.
"There's nothing I can do special, just go out there and play like I did the last three days," Pak said. "This golf course fit perfectly this week. I feel really happy about the way I'm playing. No complaints at all."
She has no complaints about the scenario either. "I think this is a better way to start the final round because sometimes leading by one or two shots, you're really having a lot of pressure," Pak said.
Lincicome overcame an opening bogey. Her 30-plus foot eagle putt on No. 6 more than wiped that out.
"I started out a little rough," she said. "I was a little nervous. It took a couple of holes to get into a rhythm.
"I'm going to keep doing the same things I'm doing and focus on my tempo. The only time I hit a bad shot is when I get a little quick. I'm just going to take a lot of deep breaths and calm myself down."
And maybe listen to her 10-year-old nephew, who predicted her score.
"The air conditioning temperature in the car on the drive here was 67 this morning, so he said I was going to shoot a 67," Lincicome said. "I just need him to pick a number for me (Sunday)."
Pettersen has revised her pre-tournament estimate about what score it might take to win on a course that underwent substantial renovations last year.

"I thought about 15-16 (under) would be a good number, but I think you've got to go low (Sunday)," she said. "There's reachable par 5s and some shorter par 4s.
"I think you need another really low one."
Choi fell back with a bogey on the final hole. It was her seventh bogey of the first three days.
Munoz, a 22-year-old rookie from Spain and last year's British women's open amateur champion at Harlech, shot a 67 to rebound from a 6-over round Friday and put herself back in contention going into the finale.
"Of course I'm going to be nervous," she said. "But this is the spot you want to be in. This is what you practice for."
Michelle Wie is not having a good tournament. She is currently last of the 73 qualifiers with scores of 72, 73 and 76 for 221.
THIRD ROUND TOTALS
Par 216 (3x72) 6512yd
T1 Suzann Pettersen 68 70 65 203
T1 Brittany Lincicome 70 66 67 203
T1 Se Ri Pak 69 66 68 203
T4 Jee Young Lee 66 73 66 205
T4 Na Yeon Choi 69 70 66 205
T4 Azahara Munoz 65 73 67 205
7 Janice Moodie 67 72 67 206
8 Song-Hee Kim 70 70 67 207
9 Angela Stanford 70 70 68 208
T10 Shanshan Feng 71 69 69 209
T10 Sun Young Yoo 68 70 71 209
T12 Hee-Won Han 71 72 67 210
T12 Karrie Webb 71 69 70 210
T12 Wendy Ward 71 65 74 210
15 Kristy McPherson 73 67 71 211
T16 Sarah Jane Smith 74 71 67 212
T16 Mariajo Uribe 71 73 68 212
T16 Brittany Lang 73 71 68 212
T16 Jennifer Rosales 73 70 69 212
T16 Inbee Park 71 71 70 212
T16 Katie Futcher 71 71 70 212
T16 Cristie Kerr 67 74 71 212
T16 Kris Tamulis 73 69 70 212
T16 Amy Hung 70 71 71 212
T16 Amanda Blumenherst 68 73 71 212
T26 Chella Choi 71 72 70 213
T26 Morgan Pressel 70 72 71 213
T26 Meaghan Francella 71 70 72 213
T26 Katherine Hull 66 74 73 213
T26 Jiyai Shin 70 70 73 213
T26 Shi Hyun Ahn 69 70 74 213
T26 Haeji Kang 69 69 75 213
T33 Karine Icher 69 74 71 214
T33 Taylor Leon 71 72 71 214
T33 Yani Tseng 73 70 71 214
T33 Alena Sharp 76 67 71 214
T33 Karin Sjodin 70 72 72 214
T33 Hee Young Park 69 73 72 214
T33 Juli Inkster 71 71 72 214
T33 Pernilla Lindberg 71 71 72 214
T33 Jeong Jang 71 70 73 214
T33 Mika Miyazato 70 70 74 214
T33 Meena Lee 67 72 75 214
T44 Giulia Sergas 73 72 70 215
T44 Pat Hurst 75 69 71 215
T44 Amy Yang 70 72 73 215
T44 Stacy Prammanasudh 71 71 73 215
T44 Karen Stupples 70 71 74 215
T49 Jin Young Pak 74 71 71 216
T49 Heather Bowie Young 71 73 72 216
T49 Natalie Gulbis 72 72 72 216
T49 Allison Hanna 72 72 72 216
T49 Diana D'Alessio 73 71 72 216
T49 Eunjung Yi 68 75 73 216
T49 Leah Wigger 73 70 73 216
T49 Momoko Ueda 74 69 73 216
T49 Ai Miyazato 70 71 75 216
T58 Mi Hyun Kim 74 70 73 217
T58 Mindy Kim 72 71 74 217
T58 Michele Redman 69 73 75 217
T58 Hye Jung Choi 67 73 77 217
T58 Jimin Kang 70 70 77 217
T63 Soo-Yun Kang 73 72 73 218
T63 Jimin Jeong 75 69 74 218
T63 Marianne Skarpnord 69 74 75 218
T63 Jill McGill 72 71 75 218
T63 Sophie Gustafson 72 70 76 218
T68 Irene Cho 69 75 75 219
T68 Katie Kempter 72 71 76 219
T70 Wendy Doolan 72 73 75 220
T70 Libby Smith 71 73 76 220
T70 Stephanie Louden 73 71 76 220
73 Michelle Wie 72 73 76 221

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