SCOTLAND'S Pam Wright, who has not had her struggles to seek in her
six seasons as a professional, returned a 68, five under par and free of
bogeys, in the first round of the Weetabix Women's British Open
championship in dreich weather yesterday at Woburn.
One score might not be the golfing equivalent of seeing the light on
the road to Damascus; it at least pierced the gloom.
But just when she seemed certain to lead on her own -- two Americans,
Cindy Figg-Currier and Alice Ritzman, the Swede Annika Sorenstam, and
Sarah Gautrey, the Australian who is the European Tour's only
left-hander, had failed to match her score -- another American, Kris
Tschetter, did so in the grey, damp evening.
Wright, aged 30, had a successful playing career at Arizona State, was
the 1989 LPGA Rookie of the Year, and has played on both Solheim Cup
teams. But victory has kept eluding her, and this year No.116 and
thirty-sixth on the respective American and European orders of merit and
twenty-fifth in the Solheim rankings, her match place obviously is in
jeopardy.
After a 70-minute delay to allow flooded greens to dry out, Wright
quickly hit her stride on the 6257-yard Duke's course, now relieved of
the bone and bounce caused by a two-month drought and on greens softened
to more receptive targets as rain persisted until lunch-time.
A putt of 20 feet fell at the third, and three of Wright's four inward
birdies came at long holes. Two were notable, for, having ''lost'' her
drive at the twelfth she hit two No.6-iron shots, the second to 15 feet,
and having reached the home green with a No.5 wood, made an awkward
second putt of three feet.
Wright has certainly set about making worthwhile the long journey from
Aberdeenshire of her parents, Janette, the former Curtis Cup player, and
Innes, the Aboyne professional, to watch the rest of the championship.
Tschetter, aged 29, and with one victory to her credit, belied her
fortieth place on the American order of merit with four birdies in five
holes from the eighth. She bogeyed the seventeenth, the shortest of the
par-4s, but at the long last, which downwind yielded a rich crop of
birdies, recovered dead from a bunker to tie.
When match 16 set out it might have taken for a slogan ''From Here To
Maternity,'' since Figg-Currier, aged 34, and one of her partners, Patti
Rizzo, are both 11 weeks into impending motherhood. Her condition has
not discouraged Figg-Currier from playing in her seventh consecutive
tournament, for she enjoys travelling the world and experiencing
different conditions.
In her eleventh season and also seeking her first victory,
Figg-Currier made her score with an outward 31 based on seven single
putts, four for birdies and three to save par. Despite pangs of hunger
and four disruptive visits to the toilet caused by her pregnancy,
Figg-Currier retrieved two bogeys with two concluding birdies.
Ritzman, at 42, is, after 16 seasons and 407 tournaments, still
without a victory and, with more than $1.33m, has the highest rating on
the LPGA career money-list of that unsuccessful sisterhood. She had a
birdie putt of four feet at the last to lead and took three, perhaps an
explanation.
Sorenstam had six successive birdies from the fourth, one short of the
European Tour record, to turn in 31, and Gautrey was home in 33, five
under. It may yet be significant, however, that although Laura Davies
took 74, that represented a forceful recovery since she began with four
bogeys, having three-putted each of the first three greens. First-round
scores (British and Irish players unless stated, * denotes amateur):
68 -- P Wright, K Tschetter (USA).
69 -- C Figg-Currier (USA), A Sorenstam (Sweden), S Gautrey
(Australia), A Ritzman (USA).
70 -- K Pearce (Australia), C Pierce.
71 -- H Alfredsson (Sweden), K Lunn (Australia), * M Fischer
(Germany), L Neumann (Sweden), S Gronberg-Whitmore (Sweden), S
Strudwick, K Cockerill (USA), S Hodge, M McGuire (N Zealand), C Hall.
72 -- T Loveys, M Burstrom (Sweden), S Mendiburu (France), S Moon
(USA), L-A Mills (USA), A Nicholas.
73 -- E Orley (Switzerland), J Forbes, M Spencer-Devlin (USA), D
Mochrie (USA), Li W-L (Thailand), H Wadsworth, M Hageman (Holland), K
Orum (Denmark), M Lunn (Australia), B King (USA), S Robinson, H
Kobayashi (Japan).
Others included:
74 -- T Yarwood, S Prosser, L Davies, M-L de Lorenzi (France), G
Stewart, C Nilsmark (Sweden), A Alcott (USA), J Geddes (USA), M
Figueras-Dotti (Spain), K Davies, J Lawrence.
75 -- D Dowling, P Rizzo (USA), L Fairclough, C Dibnah (Australia), T
Johnson, D Barnard.
76 -- K Marshall, D Reid, N Buxton, * S Lambert, L Hackney, L Lambert
(Australia), F Descampe (Belgium), B New.
77 -- D Hanna, J Morley, J Furby, P Grice-Whittaker, S Bennett, N
Moult.
78 -- A Arruti (Spain), F Dassu (Italy), A Shapcott, C Langford, A
Brighouse, * K Shepherd.
79 -- J Soulsby, J Kinloch, * K Egford, T Craik, R Bolas, * T Eakin.
80 -- R Hast, H Reid, C Panton-Lewis, L Percival, * E Duggleby.
81 -- E Rundle, * S Sharp, E Farquharson-Black.
82 -- C Duffy.
83 -- M Wright, * M Sutton, S Maynor.
88 -- A Johns.
* Six players will complete their rounds this morning.
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