Kuehne's 64 Equals Women's Open Record

L.A. Times Archives

June 4, 1999 12 AM PT

<i> From Associated Press</i>

Kelli Kuehne made her professional debut in a team event with Tiger Woods. After 18 lean months, she’s finally starting to play like him.

Four days after her first LPGA Tour victory, Kuehne tied the Women’s Open record with an eight-under-par 64 Thursday in the first round with a birdie streak as hot as the suffocating temperatures at Old Waverly Golf Club in West Point, Miss.

“I guess you could say I was in a zone,” she said. “Ball goes in the fairway, ball goes near the pin, ball goes in the hole. It’s a great feeling.”

Kuehne, 22, made seven birdies over a 10-hole stretch and took a one-stroke lead over Juli Inkster, who birdied the last two holes for a 65.

“Confidence is a big thing when you’re playing golf,” Moira Dunn said after her 67. “And she definitely has the confidence right now.”

That wasn’t always the case.

When she left Texas in her sophomore year, Kuehne was billed as the LPGA’s answer to Woods--consecutive U.S. Women’s Amateur titles, a Nike poster girl, and lucrative endorsement contracts before she even earned her card.

She even played with Woods in the mixed-team JC Penney Classic.

But unlike Woods, success didn’t come early. Until last week in the Corning Classic at Corning, N.Y., it didn’t come at all.

“I don’t know why, but I had a hard time with the transition to professional golf,” Kuehne said.

Kuehne finished 124th on the money list as a rookie last year and was in tears when she failed at Q school in October. The can’t-miss kid suddenly could only play LPGA events that had room for non-exempt players.

But she made the most of it. With a 67-66 weekend in the Philips Invitational two weeks ago, she tied for seventh. She stayed in Austin, Texas, and won her Open qualifier.

“The week in Texas gave me a lot of confidence going into Corning,” she said. “Corning gave me a lot of confidence coming here. Everything is falling into place.”

Defending champion Se Ri Pak, Dinah Shore champion Dottie Pepper and Women’s British Open winner Sherri Steinhauer are at 68.

Jumping his own schedule by two weeks, defending U.S. Open champion Lee Janzen almost reluctantly grabbed a two-stroke lead after the opening round of the Memorial Tournament at Dublin, Ohio.

Janzen had hoped to work on his game at Muirfield Village Golf Club, massaging his swing into shape just in time to make a run at a third Open title.

“I want to be this far away,” he said, holding his thumb and forefinger apart by the width of a golf ball, “when I get to the tee two weeks from now on Thursday at Pinehurst, [N.C.]. I want to be one inch away. I don’t want to be there before then.”

On Wednesday, Janzen said the fast greens at Muirfield, made even faster by a rare stretch of dry weather and high wind, would get him ready for the challenges presented by the Open.

Still, he said the 65 didn’t mean he was back to the form that won him the 1993 Open at Baltusrol or last year’s duel down the stretch at the Olympic Club with Payne Stewart.

“I’m only a fourth of the way through. I think it’s a good start,” he said. “I don’t think it’s too much to get excited about yet.”

Sergio Garcia, 19, of Spain, Frank Nobilo and Chris Perry shot five-under 67s and share second place.

Luke Donald, a Northwestern sophomore from Buckinghamshire, England, had six birdies in a round of four-under 68 and emerged as the leader at the halfway point of the 72-hole NCAA men’s golf championship at Hazeltine National Golf Club in Chaska, Minn.

“I think the wind helped me today,” said Donald, whose three-under 141 gave him a two-stroke lead over East Tennessee State’s Chris Wisler, the first-round leader who shot a 75 Thursday, and Arizona’s Derek Gillespie, one of nine golfers who advanced to weekend play after their teams were eliminated.

Clemson, the ninth-seeded team, emerged as the leader at 14-over 590, one stroke ahead of Brigham Young and three ahead of defending champion Nevada Las Vegas.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

In Front

Leaders through Friday (Complete scores, Page 13):

U.S. WOMEN’S OPEN--Par 72

Kelli Kuehne: 31-33--64 -8

Juli Inkster: 32-33--65 -7

Moira Dunn: 34-33--67 -5

Se Ri Pak: 33-35--68 -4

Sherri Steinhauer: 32-36--68 -4

Dottie Pepper: 34-34--68 -4

****

THE MEMORIAL--Par 72