Park’s 62 Good for a 2-Shot Lead

Annika Sorenstam and Michelle Wie attracted most of the attention Thursday in the first round of the Samsung World Championship at Bighorn Golf Club in Palm Desert, but Grace Park played one group behind them, shot a tournament-record, 10-under-par 62 and took the lead.

Park birdied the last three holes, including a 25-foot putt at the 18th when she was hoping just to get it close enough to putt for par.

“It was a big bonus at the end,” said Park, who was second last week at the Asahi Ryokuken. “You have to expect to shoot low here or otherwise you’ll finish down at the bottom.”

Park’s lead is two shots over Catriona Matthew and four shots over Sorenstam, Lorena Ochoa, Cristie Kerr and defending champion Sophie Gustafson, who shot 66.

Only four players in the field of 20 failed to shoot under par and Wie was among them. Wie struggled with her putting and turned in a two-over 74.

“I couldn’t make a single putt out there,” Wie said. “It was just one of those days, you know.”

Wie’s average of 309 yards on her drives led the field, but her 33 putts were next-to-last, ahead of only Meg Mallon, who had 34.

The Wie-Sorenstam pairing was the third time they have played together. They were together in the last round of the 2003 Kraft Nabisco and they also played in the pro-am of the Evian Masters in July.