CROMWELL, Connecticut, 26 July 2003 — Suzy Whaley said her historic appearance at a PGA Tour event felt a lot like playing the British Open.
While her first-round effort was less than stellar, it was eight shots better than a former British Open champion.
Whaley struggled with windy conditions on the back nine Thursday and shot a five-over-par 75 that left her 12 strokes behind co-leaders Jay Haas and Peter Jacobsen after the opening round of the Greater Hartford Open.
The second woman this year to tee it up in a PGA Tour event, Whaley was three-over after three holes but salvaged some pride with a birdie at the 18th.
While Whaley’s PGA Tour debut was less successful than Annika Sorenstam’s appearance at the Colonial two months ago, it was eight shots better than David Duval, a former world No. 1 and British Open champion whose downward spiral continued.
Duval wished Whaley luck before the round and told her to enjoy a moment in the spotlight.
A club pro from Avon, Connecticut, Whaley double-bogeyed the first hole at the TPC at River Highlands and made bogeys at the third, seventh, 10th and 16th holes.
Haas and Jacobsen shared the lead on 63. The PGA veterans were one shot ahead of Dennis Paulson and two in front of Craig Barlow.
Red-hot Kenny Perry was among six players tied at four-under.
Winless since the 1993 Texas Open, Haas opened with three straight birdies and made four more, six days after missing the cut at last week’s British Open. The 46-year-old is trying to follow in the footsteps of Champions Tour rookie Craig Stadler, who stormed from behind tomorrow to win the BC Open.
Jacobsen is just eight months away from being eligible for the Champions Tour. But he won this tournament in 1984 and has a couple of top-10 finishes this season.
Rosie Snatches One-Stroke Evian Masters Lead
In Evian-Les-Bains, France, American veteran Rosie Jones birdied the final two holes in a four under par 68 to snatch a one stroke lead over Mexican rookie Lorena Ochoa at the halfway stage of the $2.1 million Evian Masters on Thursday.
Jones stood on nine under 135, Ochoa had a 70 for eight under and American Juli Inkster, with a 72, and Swede Sophie Gustafson, who shot a joint best of day 67, were tied for third another two shots behind.
Jones, who will be 44 in a couple of months, won the Asahi Ryokuken International in South Carolina in May, and shows no sign of flagging.
By holing from ten feet at the 18th, she took pole position into the final two rounds, but she pointed out: “There is still 36-holes to go and a lot of good names are right up there.”
But one surprise absentee from the list of 33 names on par or better was world number one Annika Sorenstam.
Making her first appearance since pulling out of the Canadian Open due to exhaustion two weeks ago, she could do no better than 73 for one over 145.
Watson Continues Turnberry Love Affair
In Turnberry, Scotland, Tom Watson extended his love affair with Turnberry when he carded a four-under-par 66 to share the lead with Tom Kite in the first round of the Senior British Open on Thursday.
The two Americans go into the second round one shot ahead of a group comprising defending champion Noboru Sugai of Japan, Britain’s Russell Weir, Denis Durnian and Carl Mason, Americans Mark McCumber and Fuzzy Zoeller, and Ireland’s Des Smyth.
Maurice Bembridge, Malcolm Gregson, Bill Hardwick, and Bruce Summerhays shared 10th place on two-under-par 68. Former Open champion Jack Nicklaus, playing with Watson, shot a 71.
The 53-year-old made his first move when he birdied the 381- yard par-four second but dropped a shot at the 174-yard par three fourth.
He jumped to the top of the leaderboard with three successive birdies from the seventh, consolidating his position with a further birdie on the treacherous 209-yard par-three 15th.
