Karrie Webb, Marina Alex share early lead at US Women’s Open

Karrie Webb started strongly in her bid for her first major in nine years, while fresh face Marina Alex joined her in a share of the U.S. Women’s Open lead on Thursday.

The 28-year-old Park, victor of the 2004 U.S. Amateur title, has averaged 215 yards off the tee but was on the leaderboard alongside world number one Park In-bee at two-under 138 when she finished the second round at Lancaster Country Club on Friday.

Fifty-five golfers were forced to complete their first rounds starting 6:45 a.m. Friday, hours after play was suspended Thursday evening because of a strong storm that pounded Lancaster Country Club with high winds and heavy rain.

“I’m hitting it on a string right now, which helps”, she said. A lengthy birdie putt on No. 5, followed by a chip-in birdie on the par-3 sixth and then a tap-in birdie after a nifty chip on the par-5 seventh had every facet of her game on full display. “Because I haven’t really had a bad tournament or a really bad week”, she said.

Two and done, part 1: Former Palmer Township resident Samantha Wagner did something Friday she couldn’t do Thursday – make a birdie.

“I qualified like the last spot on my sectional”, she said.

Walker birdied two of his final three holes to finish at 5-under 54, and he shares third place with Matthew Nixon, Richard Finch and Seve Benson of England, Alejandro Canizares and Adrian Otaegui of Spain, and Sweden’s Johan Carlsson.

That said, while Wie demonstrated an ability to compete with the men, that never has translated into dominating the women, as so many thought it would.

“I was a nervous kid, pretty much”.

Lydia Ko tees off on the first hole at the US Women’s Open.

Other players to watch include Brittany Lincicome, who won the ANA Inspiration in April in California, and fellow American Stacey Lewis, who finished second to Wie in the Women’s Open past year.

Park was 16th on tour in hitting greens in regulation when she won three majors in 2013.

Scottish Open: Thorbjorn Olesen birdied three of his last four holes to shoot 7-under 63 and take a two-shot lead midway through a low-scoring first round of the Scottish Open on Thursday. I played very well.

New Jersey native Alex has endured a rollercoaster season on the LPGA circuit this year, at one stage missing five consecutive cuts before posting her first top 10 finish of the season a fortnight ago. “So I am just going to go out there and have entertaining tomorrow with my caddie and just preserve carrying out the issues that we’ve been carrying out and just see exactly where that puts me”.

The course will present several challenges for the players with some significant elevation changes and old school greens that will certainly test the game’s best.

World No. 1 Inbee Park of South Korea stood at two-under through 14 holes when the weather delay struck, along with 16-year-old Chinese amateur He Mu-ni, who had completed 11 holes.

Spieth finally got something going on his 13th hole, sinking a 32-foot birdie putt after escaping the bunker. The victor of the 1987 championship also has the most U.S. Women’s Open starts among the 156-player field with 27, including this year.