Lee Nearly Makes LPGA History With 60 at Tucson

Jung Yeon Lee never realized she had two chances to become the second LPGA Tour player to shoot a 59.

The 25-year-old South Korean player matched the second-lowest round in LPGA history on Thursday, carding a 10-under 60 to take a three-shot lead in the season-opening Welch’s/Fry’s Championship at Tucson.

But Lee, unaware that she had a chance to match Annika Sorenstam’s historic 59, missed a 20-foot birdie putt from the fringe on the 17th hole and a 10-footer on the 18th.

The three lowest scores on the women’s circuit have come in Arizona. Sorenstam’s 13-under, second-round tour de force at Phoenix’s Moon Valley Country Club in 2001 remains the LPGA standard for raw score and score in relation to par. Meg Mallon had a 60 in Tucson last year, the first for the event on the cozy Dell Urich Course in Randolph Park. Past Tucson events were played on the par-72 Randolph North course.

Laura Davies said everyone in the field watched Lee’s red numbers go up.

“We were hoping she was going to make one more,” said Davis, who shot a 65. “I guess she had three chances in the last three holes to do it. That’s a shame; it would have been nice to see.”

Karen Stupples was second with a 63, with Davies and rookie Seol-An Jeon five shots off the lead, and Eva Dahllof, Jackie Gallagher-Smith and Stacy Prammanasudh at 66.

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All those worried about tough greens and high numbers in the Honda Classic at Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., must have wondered whether Carl Pettersson played the wrong course at Mirasol on Thursday.

Pettersson was in the right place, and conditions could not have been better. The result was a nine-under 63, giving him a two-stroke lead and leaving everyone else thankful PGA Tour officials went easy on them with the way the Sunrise Course was set up.

“It wasn’t playing as tough as it could have,” he said. “They’ve got the pins in slightly easier spots. They could put them in ridiculous places. Glad they didn’t.”

Mark Hensby birdied four consecutive holes late in his round for a 65. Steve Flesch, Jesper Parnevik and Rory Sabbatini were another stroke back.