Sorenstam Can’t Stand Pat

This Annika Sorenstam run at history began with a double bogey.

Last time, it started with eight consecutive birdies, but a repeat of that is probably too much to ask.

Sorenstam shot 59 that day last month, becoming the first to break 60 on the LPGA Tour.

She doesn’t need a 59 to make history this week at the Office Depot Hosted by Amy Alcott, but considering she is four shots off the lead, it would help.

Sorenstam opened her bid for a fourth consecutive victory Thursday with a one-under-par 71 at Wilshire Country Club.

Pat Hurst shot 67 and leads by two strokes over Michelle McGann, Marnie McGuire, Dina Ammaccapane and Kristi Albers. Five players, including Lisolette Neumann and Mi-Hyun Kim, shot 70.

A victory by Sorenstam would give her four in a row, matching the LPGA mark set by Mickey Wright and equaled by Kathy Whitworth. But after the first round, Sorenstam has some work to do.

“I’d like to be a little better,” Sorenstam said. “But considering the circumstances, I’m happy where I’m at.”

She was referring to playing in the afternoon, when the winds swirled a little more and the greens got a little bumpier. She was also talking about trying to play from behind after the first hole.

She pulled her first tee shot into the rough, pushed her approach shot into a greenside bunker and the ball plugged. She barely got it on the green, then three-putted from about 35 feet.

“It happened so quickly,” Sorenstam said. “When you drop two shots on the first hole it feels like you’re playing catch-up all day.”

And the player she is trying to catch certainly isn’t going to give in.

Hurst has three top-10 finishes this season, including the Nabisco Championship, where she held the 36-hole lead and finished ninth.

She started fast Thursday, making birdies on four of her first seven holes and said her game plan was to stay aggressive.

“With a three-day event, it’s definitely important to play well the first two days because you’re only going to have one round after the cut,” Hurst said. “So I tend to go out and be more aggressive in a three-day tournament. Today, that’s what I felt like I was doing.”

Hurst, who ranks 107th on tour in putting average, made two 20-foot putts for birdie and another from 15 feet. She acknowledged that poor putting has kept her out of the winner’s circle this year and said the key this week will be continued success on the greens.

“It seems like it comes and it goes,” she said. “I need to work on being more consistent. It’s just a matter of putting it together for the entire week.”

McGann, who hasn’t won since 1997 and has finished 45th, 72nd and 31st on the money list the last three years, has had somewhat of a career resurgence in the early part of this year.

She has three top-10 finishes in her last four tournaments and ranks No. 18 on the money list.

“This game is all about confidence,” she said. “Everything is coming back together. You get out there and start playing well . . . and that builds your confidence back to where it was before.”

Hurst, who played a morning round, wasn’t sure if her lead would hold through the day and didn’t want to make a guess about what it would take to win the tournament.

Sorenstam, possibly in a moment of wishful thinking, said she doesn’t think anyone will finish the tournament with three rounds of 67.

“I don’t think it’s going to be that low,” she said. “If I’m at seven under by Saturday, I think I’m going to be happy.”

Until then, in a reversal of roles since the beginning of this year, Sorenstam will try to chase down Hurst and the rest of those in front of her.

“It’s not a role I like, really,” she said.

In Front

Leaders at Office Depot LPGA tournament at Wilshire Country Club (Par 72):

Pat Hurst: 67 -5

Kristi Albers: 69 -3

Michelle McGann: 69 -3

Marnie McGuire: 69 -3

Dina Ammaccapane: 69 -3

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SCORES, TEE TIMES: D12