Reuters/Pittsford, New YorkWorld number one Yani Tseng tied the course record with a six-under par 66 to grab the lead in Thursday’s weather-shortened opening round of the LPGA Championship, the second major of the women’s season. The 22-year-old Tseng of Taiwan, the youngest golfer to win three major championships, took dead aim at pins on the rain-softened greens of Locust Hill to offset two bogeys with eight birdies, seven of them from inside six feet. The Taiwanese led US Women’s Open champion Paula Creamer by one stroke, with her fellow Americans Angela Stanford, Diana D’Alessio and Stacy Prammanasudh, and Lee Mee-na of South Korea another shot back on 68. “Conditions were pretty soft,” said Tseng, whose two bogeys came after errant drives into deep rough. “Not too much wind. Nice weather today.” That changed late in the afternoon when a severe storm hit the course in suburban Rochester causing a two-hour delay. Play resumed for another 90 minutes before play was finally halted with six players still on the course. Seven players were tied in the clubhouse at three-under 69 including Kraft Nabisco winner Stacy Lewis, fellow American Morgan Pressel, Amy Hung of Taiwan, South Korea’s Park Hee-young and Minea Blomqvist of Finland. Bradley leads
rain-soaked Travelers c’shipsCROMWELL, Connecticut: Torrential rain washed out most of the opening day of the Travelers Championship on Thursday. More than one inch (2.5 centimetres) of rain was dumped on the course during morning thunderstorms. Play was suspended before lunchtime and never resumed, forcing tournament organizers to reschedule the opening round for Friday, when more foul weather is forecast. “We got a little break and were ready to go and then we got another 25 minutes or so of rain and we just lost the golf course,” PGA Tour vice president of rules and competition Mark
Russell said. “We went out there and the course was saturated and there were some areas where we just couldn’t play golf.”