Weather Is Nicer, Course Tougher

The weather improved in the desert Friday, but there wasn’t a lot of improvement in the scores in the second round of the $1.5-million Kraft Nabisco Championship at Mission Hills Country Club.

Liselotte Neumann held a two-stroke lead over Beth Daniel, Rosie Jones and Annika Sorenstam after shooting a two-under-par 70. She led by one stroke after a 69 in the first round, which was played in cold, blustery weather.

“It was a beautiful today,” said Neumann, who has a two-day total of 139. “I mean a little bit of wind, but compared to yesterday it was like nothing. Very perfect conditions. Ideal.”

The conditions and a round of 71 had Sorenstam, the defending champion, feeling good about the weekend.

“Overall, I think I’m in great shape,” she said. “I probably could not have asked for more. Being close to the lead is very much what I want.

“I’m hitting it incredibly well, really solid. I’m hitting some great putts out there, just having a really hard time reading the greens.”

Sorenstam would have been only a stroke off the lead if she hadn’t bogeyed the 171-yard, par-three 17th. She hit a six-iron into the bunker and couldn’t get up and down.

She might have been tied for the lead or held it outright had she been able to read the greens a little better. Daniel had the same problem and had her caddie read them.

“I had my caddie read them too,” Sorenstam said. “I read them with glasses, I read them without glasses. It’s just there is a special shine to the greens, and I find that very difficult to read. They are not really green; it’s kind of yellow-greenish, and that makes it difficult.

“Somebody told me that everything breaks to Indio, but I really don’t know where Indio is anymore. I’ve given up.”

Neumann, who had three birdies and one bogey, said not only reading the greens made things tough Friday but also the pin placements.

“I think what was tougher today was some of the pins were really tucked in the corners,” she said. “Just on 18, for example, it just like three, four steps from the edge.”

However, the Swede who now lives in Baco Raton, Fla., birdied the 526-yard, par-five 18th. She hit a pitching wedge to within 12 feet and made the putt. She made a 30-foot putt on the second hole for a birdie and a two-footer on 11 for her other birdie.

Neumann is familiar with Mission Hills, where she has an honorary membership. If she could hold on to the lead through the final two rounds, it would be her second major victory. She won the U.S. Open as a rookie in 1988.

Neumann, who ranks 14th on the all-time LPGA money list, finished tied for 16th last weekend at Tucson, going 68-69 over the final two rounds.

She had only four top-20 finishes last year and her best finish was a tie for fifth in the Office Depot Hosted by Amy Alcott, which will be played next week at El Caballero Country Club in Tarzana.

She credits an improved putting stroke for her overall improvement this year.

“I feel comfortable with the putter right now,” she said. “I’ve had great speed. So if I end up with a 15- or 20-footer, I’m happier than maybe messing up and missing the green. So I’m playing a little bit on the safe side, I must admit.”

Neumann also credits a rigid workout regime for her improved play.

“This off-season I spent a lot of time in the gym,” she said. “I got myself a trainer and really dedicated myself to getting in better shape. I looked up my stats last year and realized I was about 150th in driving distance and about 150th in accuracy too. That’s just a terrible combination.”

Daniel, a Hall of Famer with 32 victories, has won only one major title--the 1990 LPGA Championship. She has come close a number of other times, including a second-place finish in the Dinah Shore in 1983.

“I remember it very well,” she said. “I let that one get away. It was a very windy day--about a 40-mph wind. I stood up on the sixth tee and hit my shot just as the wind died and it went into the lake.”

She’s not optimistic about her chances this weekend.

“I’m probably less capable of winning a major on this course than any other,” she said, “just because of the way it plays.”

Jones, who birdied 17 and 18, tied for the low round of the day with a 69. Kris Tschetter, who was alone in fifth place at 143, also shot a 69. So did amateur Lorena Ochoa, Sophie Gustafson and Karine Icher.

Jones had a 72 in the first round after a double bogey on 18. “I kind of felt like I lost all my Easter eggs,” she said.

However, Jones, who has 12 victories in 20 years on the tour, was feeling better after Friday’s round.

“I felt like I played the back nine as well as I have in the 20 years I’ve played here,” she said.

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