It’s Slow Going at First Showing

Waiting to play was already a tradition at what is now known as Trump National Golf Club, which is finally playing host to its first professional tournament six years after a landslide sent part of the 18th hole crumbling toward the Pacific Ocean in 1999.

Now the wait is on the tees and fairways. But after six-hour rounds for some LPGA players in the first round of the Office Depot Championship on Friday in Rancho Palos Verdes, there weren’t as many complaints as one might think.

One reason was the view.

The other was the low scores.

“This is a great office to be in this week,” said Wendy Ward, who shared the lead with Nicole Perrot of Chile, Karine Icher of France and Hee-Won Han of South Korea after a six-under-par 65.

Three other players -- former USC golfer Jennifer Rosales, Natalie Gulbis and Gloria Park of South Korea -- were a stroke behind after rounds of 66 on the par-71 layout. More than two dozen players were within four strokes of the lead when play was suspended because of darkness at 6:47 p.m. with 25 players still on the course.

Gulbis said her round of slightly less than six hours was her longest of the year.

But not a problem.

“Every hole on this golf course has a panoramic view of the water,” she said. “It’s a tough place to spend six hours. It could be another national park out there.”

Annika Sorenstam, who won the tournament the last two years at El Caballero Country Club in Tarzana, was four strokes behind the leaders with a two-under 69 after beginning her round at 12:20 p.m. and finishing around 6 p.m.

“Today’s only Friday. I feel like I’m striking the ball really well, so I’m not really worried,” Sorenstam said. “Hopefully tomorrow I can score a little better. The scores were low in the morning.”

Paula Creamer, the LPGA rookie of the year, was three strokes off the lead with a 68 after recovering from what she called a shaky start because of uncharacteristic nerves after a week off and a delay in her tee time.

“We were 20 minutes behind, and then on No. 2 we had to wait for a ruling,” Creamer said. “I knew I had a fight.”

The course is tight but not long at 6,017 yards, yet it took a long time for the players to get around it.

“It’s not playing really long, but it’s really tricky,” Sorenstam said.

Said Creamer: “It’s a difficult golf course. The fairways aren’t real narrow, but if you miss it and hit it in the stuff, you have to go back to the tee or get a ruling. It’s difficult to maneuver.

“You have to hit shots, you have to hit fairways and you have to hit the right part of the greens.”

For those who kept the ball in play, practiced good course management and made putts, there was an opportunity to score well.

“If you manage yourself off the tee and give yourself the right angle in, and know when to go for the par five and when not to, create the best angle and make the next shot easier,” you can score well, said Ward, a 10-year tour veteran and Solheim Cup player who opened with three consecutive birdies.

She said the undulating greens “are not incredibly difficult,” but can be “a little tricky.”

“The greens are big, but kind of like U.S. Open greens, you need to be in certain sections to be able to make birdies,” Ward said.

The main threat to more low scores the final two days of the tournament is probably wind.

“Today it wasn’t really hard to play in the wind, as compared to when I played a practice round,” said Park, who birdied four of the five par threes.

“But maybe the wind is picking up tomorrow.”

Even without wind, there were players who kept finding the rough or had trouble finding their balls.

Someone asked Ward about the difficulties of the course.

She could only laugh.

“Well, I don’t think I found them.”

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Play was scheduled to resume at 7:15 a.m. today for those who did not complete their rounds, with second-round tee times set for 7:30 a.m., 15 minutes later than originally scheduled.... The long-anticipated word that teenager Michelle Wie will announce she is turning professional Wednesday drew this reaction from Gulbis, like Wie a player with plenty of endorsement potential: “I think it’s very positive. The publicity that she has gotten for herself and also gotten for the LPGA has been extremely positive because more people are talking about Michelle Wie in accordance with the LPGA. And she has raised the bar and also shown how much a female golfer can be paid from an endorsement standpoint.” ... Laura Diaz withdrew and was replaced by Tracy Hanson. Diaz’s withdrawal was because of a rib injury and was unrelated to her pregnancy, an LPGA spokeswoman said. Diaz’s baby is due in January.