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| Early morning rain delays first round of play in Arkansas
A weather system that passed through the Rogers, Ark., area early Friday morning and dropped nearly two inches of rain delayed the first round of the P&G Beauty NW Arkansas Championship Presented by John Q. Hammons. Despite the inclement conditions, all 144 players were able to tee off, and 71 players completed their first 18 holes of play before competition was suspended at 8:20 p.m. due to darkness. The 24 remaining groups will resume their first round Saturday morning at 6:45 a.m., and the second round will begin following completion of play. The 54-hole event at Pinnacle Country Club offers a purse of $1.7 million.
The morning perils brought a case of déjà vu to the tournament, as the inaugural LPGA NW Arkansas Championship Presented by John Q. Hammons in 2007 began with a four-and-a-half hour delay due to remnants of Hurricane Henriette. Last year's September-based event did not crown a champion as the event was shortened to 18 holes as a result of both unplayable course conditions and inclement weather.
Lee fires season-low round to lead field at the P&G Beauty NW Arkansas Championship Presented by John Q. Hammons. Three-time LPGA Tour winner and 2006 Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year Seon Hwa Lee (32-32) fired a season-low 8-under-par 64 on Friday at the P&G Beauty NW Arkansas Championship Presented by John Q. Hammons to take a two-stroke lead into the evening hours. Half of the field has yet to finish play, as the event’s start was delayed five hours due to unplayable course conditions that were the result of an early morning thunderstorm that passed through Rogers, Ark., and dropped nearly two inches of rain on the area.
Lee, who turned in a nine-stroke come-from-behind victory at the Ginn Tribute Hosted by ANNIKA in June, hit 11 of 13 fairways on the par-72, 6,238-yard Pinnacle Country Club en route to her season-best round. She played flawlessly on the front side with a pair of birdies on holes three and four and another duo on six and seven. Lee lit up the final six holes with five birdies, and a single blemish occurred on the 17th hole where she missed a five-foot putt to save par.
H.J. Choi (33-33=66, -6) sits two strokes behind Lee in solo second, while Ai Miyazato (33-34=67, -5) and Eun-Hee Ji (34-33=67) are currently tied for third. Second-year Tour member Kristy McPherson is also making her way up the leaderboard, as she will continue her second-round play at 5-under through 13 holes.
University of Arkansas standout Lewis in the hunt. Fresh off of a tie for third place at the U.S. Women’s Open last week in her first professional event, Stacy Lewis (34-35=69) carded a 3-under-par 69 in the opening round of the P&G Beauty NW Arkansas Championship Presented by John Q. Hammons and is currently in sixth place after half of the field completed the first round. Lewis, a recent graduate of the nearby University of Arkansas, got off to a blistering start as she carded three birdies in her first four holes at Pinnacle Country Club. Following a single bogey on the 484-yard, par-5 seventh hole, Lewis’ scorecard remained fairly quiet with just one more birdie falling on the 13th hole.
Tour history in the Natural State. This week’s P&G Beauty NW Arkansas Championship Presented by John Q. Hammons marks the fifth LPGA Tour stop in the ‘Natural State.’ One of the 13 founders of the LPGA, Patty Berg, won the Hardscrabble Women’s Invitation in 1950 – the inaugural year of the LPGA. Two years later, fellow founder Betty Jameson won the second edition of the event, while Berg claimed the final event in the 20th century in Arkansas at the 1956 Arkansas Open.
Flash forward 51 years later and the LPGA Tour returned to Arkansas with the LPGA NW Arkansas Championship Presented by John Q. Hammons. Although the event was rain-shortened from 54 to 18 holes, then-amateur Stacy Lewis was declared the leader after one round of play. This year’s winner will join the duo of Berg and Jameson as the only LPGA official winners in the state of Arkansas.
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P&G Beauty NW Arkansas Championship Presented by John Q. Hammons Jul 04-06
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