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**truebluefan** · 01-10-2008, 04:39 PM

Talk about the event here

**truebluefan** · 03-15-2008, 08:31 PM

Par: 36-36, 72
Yardage: 6,662
Purse: $1,500,000
Winner: $225,000
Runner-up: $136,988
Format: 72-hole stroke play
Field: 144 players
Defending champion: Lorena Ochoa
Victory margin: Defeated Suzann Pettersen by two strokes
Tournament information: 602-747-4510

TV Times

Golf Channel
March 27-28 6:30-8:30 p.m.
March 29-30 6:30-9 p.m.
All times Eastern.

Golf Course Superintendents Association of America
Superstition Mountain Golf and Country Club, Prospector Course, Superstition Mountain, Ariz.

GCSAA Class A Director of Agronomy and Maintenance, contact: Scott C. Krout, 480-474-1196
Course architect, date: Jack Nicklaus, 1998

Course grasses
Tees – Bermudagrass; perennial ryegrass
Fairways – Bermudagrass; perennial ryegrass
Greens – Bermudagrass
Rough – Bermudagrass; perennial ryegrass

**truebluefan** · 03-28-2008, 11:13 AM

The LPGA heads to Arizona this week for the Safeway International.

Lorena Ochoa kicked off a stellar 2007 season with a win at this event last year. She carded four rounds in the 60s to fend off Suzann Pettersen by two shots. That also started a very strong year for Pettersen.

Ochoa went on to win seven more events, including her first major, and repeated as LPGA Tour Player of the Year. Excluding 2006 when she finished 24th, Ochoa has finished inside the top six in her other four starts at this event.

As for Pettersen, she would go on to win five times in 2007. She also earned her first major championship title.

This is the event where Annika Sorenstam shot 59 in 2001. She accomplished that at Moon Valley Country Club and went on to set all the scoring records that week.

This event has a history of consecutive winners. Danielle Ammaccapane won in 1991 and '92, then Laura Davies ran off four straight wins starting in 1994.

A Sorenstam won in 2000 (Charlotta) and 2001 (Annika), then Annika won in 2004 and 2005.

For the eighth straight year, this event serves as the final tune-up for the season's first major, the Kraft Nabisco Championship.

GOLF CHANNEL will broadcast two hours of coverage the first two days, then 2 1/2 hours of action for the weekend rounds.

Next week is the Kraft Nabisco Championship, where Morgan Pressel became the youngest major champion in LPGA Tour history, thanks in part to Pettersen going four-over par from the 15th to 17th holes.

**truebluefan** · 03-28-2008, 11:13 AM

Angela Stanford shot a career-best 10-under 62 on Thursday to break the Prospector Course record and take a three-stroke lead over defending champion Lorena Ochoa in the Safeway International.

Stanford, the 2003 ShopRite LPGA Tour Classic winner, had a bogey-free round at Superstition Mountain Golf and Country Club. She had six birdies in a front-nine 30 and birdied the final two holes for a back-nine 32.

“It all happened so slowly,” Stanford said. “I’m still in a fog. It’s just one of those days you can’t even get in your own way.”

The 30-year-old Texan broke the course record of 63 set by Cristie Kerr in 2004, and topped her previous career best of 64 in the first round of the 2006 Canadian Open.

Ochoa, the Mexican star who won the tournament last year for the first of her eight 2007 titles, had nine birdies and two bogeys. She won the HSBC Champions on March 2 in Singapore for her 18th LPGA Tour title.

“I’m going to try to be aggressive (Friday) and try to catch her. Maybe I can beat that,” Ochoa said after congratulating Stanford on her round.

Sherri Steinhauer was third after a 66, Karen Stupples, Jee Young Lee and Yani Tseng and Heather Young shot 67s, and Michele Redman, Sophie Gustafson and Na Yeon Choi followed at 68. Three-time winner Annika Sorenstam birdied the final two holes to match Paula Creamer with a 69.

“I finished strong and got a little momentum,” said Sorenstam, who shot the first 59 in women’s tournament history in her 2001 victory at Moon Valley. The 70-time LPGA Tour winner also won in 2004 and 2005 at Superstition Mountain.

Stanford wasn’t pleased with her 3-wood approach on the par-5 18th, but put it on the green from 236 yards to set up a two-putt birdie.

“Hook. Chunk. Duck. It was just bad,” she said. “But I had enough topspin to make it to the green.”

Stanford said she sensed a special round coming when she got up-and-down for par from a greenside bunker on No. 1.

Stanford’s lone victory came 114 starts ago and her best finishes since came in 2006, when she was second twice.

“I’m not even going to think about it (winning),” Stanford said. “I want to, but I’m just not going to.”

Ochoa shot a 5-under 31 on the front nine, but three-putted the par-3 12th for a bogey and also dropped a stroke on the par-4 15th when she hit a wedge over the green and into a bunker.

“Two silly mistakes,” she said. “I’m OK. It’s a great way to start.”

The 45-year-old Steinhauer had eight birdies and two bogeys.

“Yeah, that’s all right,” Steinhauer said. “It’s fun to come out ahead of the young ones at times. … I’ve been terming myself Dr. Jeykll and Mr. Hyde. Today was Mr. Hyde, but tomorrow it could be Dr. Jeykll.”

Patricia Meunier-Lebouc aced the 167-yard 17th hole with a 7-iron. She finished with a 72.

**truebluefan** · 03-28-2008, 11:15 AM

Angela Stanford is leading going into the second round.

**truebluefan** · 03-29-2008, 10:58 AM

Angela Stanford was clinging to the lead halfway through Safeway International, with friend Lorena Ochoa closing in.

Stanford had a one-shot lead through 36 holes of the LPGA Tour tournament Friday under bright sunshine with the temperature in the mid 80s in the imposing shadow of the stark Superstition Mountains, some 40 miles east of Phoenix.

Stanford followed her course record and career-best 10-under 62 on Thursday with a scrambling 3-under 69 on Friday for a 13-under 131 total.

Ochoa, the event’s defending champion and world’s top-ranked female golfer, was one back at 12 under. She began the day three strokes back and shot a steady 67.

Jee Young Lee was three back at 10 under, while Annika Sorenstam shot a 67 to join Michele Redman (68) at 8 under, five off the lead on the 6,662-yard course at the Superstition Mountain Golf and Country Club.

With the crowd behind her and the surroundings familiar, Mexico’s Ochoa felt at home on this desert course.

“I just love being here,” she said. “For sure we only play once a year in a desert golf course. And I just feel comfortable. It feels good, and it brings me good memories. I love Arizona, and I want to take advantage of that only one opportunity.”

Ochoa attended the University of Arizona, and she is concerned that Safeway is ending its sponsorship of the LPGA Tour’s lone Arizona event after this year to concentrate its efforts on the tournament it holds in Portland, Ore. The LPGA Tour left Tucson in 2004.

“If there is anything I can do to help have a sponsor next year, let me know,” Ochoa said. “And not only me, but all of the players as a group. I think we would all love to be back.”

Stanford was pleased that she didn’t falter too much after her big first round.

“After shooting, well, a career round for me, you really don’t know what to expect the next day,” she said. “So I really tried to keep the same mind-set and give myself chances and just roll my putts.”

A winner once in seven years on the tour, Stanford took up where she left off with birdies on her first three holes Friday to go to 13 under. But, playing the back nine first, she had bogeys on a three par-5s—the 16th, 18th and second—to fall to 10 under.

Stanford rallied with birdies on the third, fifth and seventh to get back to 13 under. She had 12 top-10 finishes in 24 tournaments last year, with her best a tie for third at the MasterCard Classic.

“I think I’m just getting warmed up,” she said. “… I put myself in the late bloomer category.”

She will be paired with Ochoa in Saturday’s third round.

“Angela is very competitive,” Ochoa said. “She’s very good in basketball or bowling or whatever. She always tries to beat me.”

Stanford wins a lot, Ochoa said. Just not in golf, where Ochoa is an 18-time LPGA Tour winner, including this year’s HSBC Championship in Singapore. She won eight times last year.

Ochoa has no aversion to a bit of conversation with her friend during their round together.

“You could be friendly and at the same time make birdies,” she said. “You don’t have to hate the opponent.”

**truebluefan** · 03-30-2008, 01:10 PM

Lorena Ochoa moved into position for her second straight Safeway International victory and second win in three starts this year, shooting a 4-under 68 on Saturday to take the third-round lead.

After outdueling close friend Angela Stanford on Saturday, Ochoa will be paired with Jee Young Lee on Sunday at Superstition Mountain Golf and Country Club.

“It’ll be a fun day,” said Ochoa, a stroke ahead of Stanford and Lee.

“She (Lee) hits the ball very far. She jokes to me she beats me with the driver. (Sunday) will be a good laugh to see who hits farther.”

Stanford followed bogeys on 13 and 14 with two finishing birdies for a 70. Lee fired her third consecutive 67.

At 16-under 200, Ochoa matched the best 54-hole total since the tournament moved to Superstition Mountain five years ago. Annika Sorenstam also was 16 under in 2004 on her way to a course record 18-under 270 total, matched last year by Ochoa.

Ochoa, the HSBC Champions winner this year in Singapore, is seeking her 16th victory in her last 48 starts since 2006 and 19th overall LPGA Tour win.

The six players within six shots of her have a combined four LPGA Tour victories. The closest rival with similar experience was Sorenstam, seven strokes back after a 71.

But Ochoa dismissed talk that the tournament was over.

“It’s going to be a tough day (Sunday),” she said.

Nobody, however, owns Sundays like Ochoa these days. “It’s all about experience,” she said. “It’s the way you feel on Sunday. You like to be under pressure.”

Ochoa birdied four of the first five holes to steal the lead from Stanford, who shot a Prospector Course-record 62 Thursday to open a three-shot lead over Ochoa.

“It was a good day,” Ochoa said.

Stanford, a winner once in seven years on the tour, said she felt comfortable paired with Ochoa, who she regularly competes with in basketball and bowling.

“But you can get caught up with what somebody else is doing,” Stanford said. “Especially when she’s getting a boatload of birdies.”

She’ll play in the second-to-last pairing Sunday with Inbee Park, who tied Grace Park for the low round of the day, a 65, and was four shots back.

“If I can stir it up early, she’ll have to watch that all day,” Stanford said.

Lee lipped out a birdie putt at 18 that would have given her a share of the lead.

Her bogey-free round featured five birdies.

Asked if she felt pressure playing in the final twosome, she said, “Absolutely, but I like this course. I feel comfortable and confident here.”

Lee became the 14th non-LPGA member in history to win an LPGA Tour event in 2005 when she won the CJ Nine Bridges Classic as a member of the Korean LPGA. She had three runner-up finishes last year, but got off to a bumpy start this season.

She said she has played with Ochoa “four or five” times. “She’s really good. She has confidence.”

**truebluefan** · 03-31-2008, 10:32 AM

Three big Mexican flags fluttered in the brisk wind above crowd at the 18th hole. Lorena Ochoa had made her country proud again.

Cheered on by a big, enthusiastic gallery, Ochoa left her pursuers in the desert dust on Sunday to successfully defend her title at the Safeway International with a dominating seven-stroke victory.

The 26-year-old sensation shot a 6-under 66 to finish at 22-under 266. She won for the second time in three tries in the young LPGA Tour season.

It was the lowest score, by four shots, in the five years the tournament has been held at Superstition Mountain Golf and Country Club.

Ochoa turned the tournament into a rout with birdies on the 13th, 14th and 15th holes, then punctuated her 19th career tour victory with a birdie tap-in on the 18th.

“It was a great day,” she said, “especially the back nine.”

The world’s No. 1-ranked female golfer and the LPGA Tour player of the year the past two seasons won eight times last year and has 16 victories in her last 53 starts.

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