Kim and Kim lead LPGA
Lorena Ochoa was in the lead and hitting her stride Thursday at the ADT Championship in West Palm Beach, Fla., until a shocking finish to her round. She hit two balls into the water on the 17th hole for a quadruple bogey that sent her tumbling down the leaderboard.
"I was worried I was going to run out of balls," she said with a laugh.
That would have been her only serious concern.
All that mattered on the first day of golf's most peculiar tournament was not shooting themselves out of the 32-player event.
Christina Kim and Mi Hyun Kim will go in the books as co-leaders after both turned in bogey-free rounds of 5-under 67 on a breezy day at Trump International, one shot ahead of Juli Inkster and Paula Creamer. Ochoa wound up with a 70 and was in seventh place, 5 shots ahead of the projected cut.
The cut will be made to 16 players after Friday and the slate will be wiped clean, so it didn't matter which Kim shot what as long as they finish in the top 16 going into the weekend. After Saturday, the cut will be made to eight players and their scores again erased, leading to an 18-hole shootout Sunday for $1 million.
Pressure?
That belongs to Annika Sorenstam, needing a victory this week to avoid her first winless season since she was a rookie in 1994. She played decently enough, but three balls in the water sent her to a 74 and put her in a tie for 14th.
Hong Kong Open: South Korea's K.J. Choi shot an 8-under 62 to take a 1-stroke lead over Wales' Garry Houston after the first round of the Hong Kong Open.
Sweden Fredrik Andersson Hed and Robert Karlsson opened with 64s. Canadian Mike Weir and South Africa's Retief Goosen were 7 strokes back after matchinga 69s.
The tournament is sanctioned by the European and Asian tours.
Dunlop Phoenix: England's Ian Poulter shot a 5-under 65 for a share of the first-round lead in the Japan Golf Tour's Dunlop Phoenix in Miyazaki, Japan.
South Korea's Kim Kyung-tae and Japan's Toshinori Muto also shot 65s. Defending champion Padraig Harrington of Ireland had a 68, England's Luke Donald opened with a 69, and American Brandt Snedeker shot a 70.
Champions Tour: Former major league pitcher Rick Rhoden double-bogeyed the final hole to drop into a three-way tie for the lead after the third round of the Champions Tour's National Qualifying Tournament in Coral Springs, Fla.
Rhoden, the winner of 50 celebrity golf titles, shot an even-par 72 to match Jack Ferenz (69) and Scott Masingill (70) at 6-under 210 on the TPC Eagle Trace. After the fourth round Friday, the low 30 players and ties will earn spots into open qualifiers at all co-sponsored events on the 2008 Champions Tour.