The Ricoh Women’s British Open is under way…I was hoping that Annika would be the star of the show since she is planning on retiring at the end of this season. It looks like at this moment, Juli Inkster is the star. Juli is 48 years old, has not won a major title since the 2002 Women’s U.S. Open and is one shot ahead of the field. If Juli wins this, she will be the oldest winner of a major and the second player to complete a career Super Slam. Also if Inkster wins, that would mean that she would have gone a women’s record 24 years between her first major-the 1984 Kraft Nabisco and her last. Lots of luck to her!

As for the rest of the feild,Prammanasudh twice was tied with Inkster at 7 under but each time she drew even she followed with bogeys at Nos. 15 and 17. At one stage, Sorenstam was 3 over after bogeys at three of the first six holes. She finally birdied the ninth, picked up more shots after the turn, but is still seven strokes behind the leader. Ochoa birdied the first two holes and was 5 under after 15. But two bogeys toward the end of her round left her at 69.
Inbee Park, the Women’s U.S. Open champion, shot a 74. She dropped a shot at the opening hole and had double bogeys at Nos. 5 and 6 to reach the turn at 4-over 40.

Tags: WOMEN AND GOLF by Jenn
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Lorena Ochoa shot a 7-under par 65 Thursday to take a one-stroke lead after the first round of the $3.25 million Evian Masters. She started with a birdie on the first hole and added six more on the back nine in a bogey-free round in the event co-sanctioned by the LPGA Tour and the Ladies European Tour. Ochoa was a stroke ahead of three players: Sun-ju Ahn, Candie Kung and Angela Park. Park began with eight pars before making birdies on six of the final 10 holes.

Laura Diaz teed off before 8:00 a.m. and took the clubhouse lead with a 5-under 67. the 33-year-old American  dominated the back nine, birdieing five of the last eight holes. It was the first time Diaz had shot under 70 in the opening round in 17 tournaments this season. A four-time Solheim Cup player, she has two wins on the LPGA Tour, both in 2002 when she climbed as high as seven in the women’s golf rankings. Diaz was joined at 5 under by fellow Americans Juli Inkster and Angela Stanford, Meena Lee of South Korea and Norway’s Suzann Pettersen.

South Koreans, In-kyung Kim and Kim Young were another shot back along with Amy Yang, while defending champion Natalie Gulbis — who played with Ochoa Thursday — led a group of seven at 3 under.

Annika Sorenstam played Friday, who i personally want to see win, with the status of crowd favorite in what is her final competitive trip to Europe, which concludes with the Ricoh Women’s British Open next week. She will retire at the end of the season. The 2000 and 2002 Evian champion played with Helen Alfredsson and Catrin Nilsmark, an all-Swedish trio of former winners, but had four bogeys and finished with a 71, six shots off the lead.

Tags: WOMEN AND GOLF by Jenn
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Annika Sorenstam, the 37 year old Swede with 72 career victories, plans to retire at the end of this season due to wanting to marry and start a family. I think that it is wonderful and i wish her luck in all future endeavors! I also think that it is great that Tournament Directors are showing such respect for Annika by naming part of the Evian course in her honor, “Annika’s Place”. Annika is playing with fellow Swedes and Evian winners Helen Alfredsson and Catrin Nilsmark today. Next week, Annika will play in the Ricoh Women’s British Open in her last major and final tournament in Europe. She has been very inspirational and great to follow!

Tags: WOMEN AND GOLF by Jenn
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