Gronberg Is the International Leader

Playing at 6,300 feet and using the modified Stableford scoring system, two factors that reward big hitters and aggressiveness, Mathias Gronberg scored 13 points to lead Stuart Appleby, Stewart Cink, John Senden and Tom Pernice Jr. by two after the first round of the International at Castle Rock, Colo., on Thursday.

Gronberg leads Danny Ellis, Jeff Brehaut and Patrick Sheehan by three. David Howell was at 12 until he teed off into the water and double-bogeyed his final hole, costing him three points.

Gronberg started out with some poor putts before he rallied with five birdies on the back nine.

“I hit some awful bad putts today,” Gronberg said. “I was struggling with it a bit, and then somehow I rolled in a good birdie putt on No. 8 and that calmed me down a little bit.”

Last year’s champion, Retief Goosen, sputtered with an opening round of 3, missing several fairways and discovering how thick the rough was all along the hilly course.

The scoring system at the International awards two points for a birdie, five for an eagle and eight for a double eagle. One point is subtracted for a bogey, three points for a double bogey or worse.

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Angela Stanford thought about playing a conservative shot from a tricky downhill lie in the 14th fairway. Instead, she talked herself into an aggressive play and ended up hitting the best shot of the best round of her life.

Stanford deftly faded her seven-iron approach around a large greenside tree to set up a tap-in birdie, the last of her eight birdies in an eight-under-par 64 that matched the lowest round in the history of the Canadian Women’s Open.

The 64 in ideal conditions on the London Hunt and Country Club course tied the record set by JoAnne Carner in 1978 at par-73 St. George’s in Toronto when the national championship was called the Peter Jackson Classic.

Cristie Kerr matched Vicki Goetze-Ackerman and Jee Young Lee at 67, and Lorie Kane was another stroke back along with defending champion Meena Lee and Il Mi Chung.

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Annika Sorenstam shot a seven-under 66, breaking the record at Bro-Balsta, her home course in Stockholm, to take the first-round lead at the TPC of Scandinavia. Sherri Steinhauer, who won the Women’s British Open last week, was two shots back at five under.

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Jennie Lee advanced to the quarterfinal round of the U.S. Women’s Amateur with a victory over Sydnee Michaels at North Plains, Ore. Lee, a member of the U.S. team that won the Curtis Cup, defeated Michaels, an incoming freshman at UCLA, 2 and 1, at Pumkin Ridge.