As a struggling Karrie Webb completed a mediocre first round of the US Women's Open today, she had an unusually positive thought.
"I was walking up the last thinking at least I'm going to break 80," said Webb, whose two-over-par 75 left her eight strokes adrift of the leaders at Interlachen.
The Queenslander was referring to last year's Open, when she carded a horrendous opening 83 that left her no chance of making the cut, let alone winning.
Today's performance was positive by comparison, even if she did squander golden birdie opportunities at the final two holes.
"I'm a little disappointed. Two-over's not a great score but there's a long way to go," said the 2000 and 2001 Open champion.
"I didn't swing as freely as I would have liked, didn't drive the ball very well. I only missed three greens but I had long putts and didn't have a lot of birdie opportunities."
Experienced American Pat Hurst and Korean teenager Ji Young Oh led on six-under 67, while Rachel Hetherington was the best Australian on 71, one stroke better than Katherine Hull.
"I'm very happy with it. Anytime you shoot under par at the US Open the glass is definitely half full," Hetherington said.
"I hit the ball very well on the front nine and even though I missed a few greens on the back, I stayed patient."
Among the bigger names, world No. 1 Lorena Ochoa recovered from a poor start to shoot 73, while Swede Annika Sorenstam joined her former arch rival Webb on 75.
Michelle Wie's woes continued with an 81 that included a disastrous quintuple-bogey nine at the par-four ninth, where she took six strokes to hole out from over the back of the green.
"I had trouble counting how many strokes I had on that hole," quipped the 18-year-old from Hawaii, who no longer talks about one day playing regularly on the men's tour.
As bad as Wie's score was, it was one stroke better than her opening effort last year, when she was struggling to recover from a broken left wrist.
