RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif. -- Annika Sorenstam might have to tear
up her list of goals for the year and start over again.
Barring a spectacular weekend rally in the Kraft Nabisco
Championship, she won't be claiming any Grand Slams this year.
The most dominant player in women's golf looked anything but
Friday on a day of golf that seemed like it would never end. When
it did, Sorenstam was signing for a double bogey on the last hole
and a 4-over 76 that left her hoping for a weekend miracle.
"There's two days and I've come back from further behind in one
day," Sorenstam said.
Sorenstam was nine shots behind co-leaders Dottie Pepper and
Jung Yeon Lee and six behind 14-year-old sensation Michelle Wie
after hitting it into the same water on the 18th hole where she
took the champion's traditional plunge two of the last three years.
Her round lasted nearly six hours on an excruciating slow day
where gusty desert wind rattled through the palm trees of the Dinah
Shore tournament course at Mission Hills Country Club.
The day was so long that Lee putted under palm trees framed by
green lights on the 18th hole to finish her round of 69 and tie
Pepper at 6-under 138. Lee's playing partners in the final group
marked their balls in the dusk rather than finish.
"It's outrageous," Sorenstam said. "But it was the same for
everyone."
Sorenstam had come to the Nabisco full of hope after winning her
first LPGA Tour event of the year last week. She talked boldly of
doing what no woman has ever done -- win all four LPGA major
championships in one year.
An opening round of 71 didn't hurt much, but a round that
included four bogeys and a double bogey did. It ended with
Sorenstam hitting a difficult shot from a fairway bunker on the
18th hole into the water fronting the green and making double bogey
seven.
"That kind of summed up my whole day," she said.
The day was different for Pepper, a two-time champion who hasn't
been the same since the traditional winner's plunge here five years
ago left her with walking pneumonia and strange green stuff in her
ears.
That doesn't mean she doesn't want to do it again. The way she
played Friday, she might get a chance.
"I'll jump if that's the case and worry about starting
antibiotics on Monday," Pepper said. "I hope we have that
problem."
Pepper, helping carry the torch for veteran players in a
tournament where teenagers seem to shine, shot a 2-under 70 to lead
by a shot over 17-year-old Aree Song, Karrie Webb and Wendy Doolan.
Just happy to be healthy once again after five years of various
ailments, Pepper made only one bogey on a day when bogeys were easy
to make.
Pepper, who won here in 1992 when Wie was a toddler, has battled
injuries and illness that she traces back to jumping in the murky
water surrounding the 18th green after winning her second Nabisco
in 1999.
She got sick immediately after, and didn't play for four weeks.
Pepper has won only twice since and spent almost all of 2002 on the
sideline with a shoulder injury.
"I had walking pneumonia and there was something in my ears
that wasn't anything other than green," Pepper said. "Seriously,
I was pretty sick from whatever was in that lake."
The good news for Pepper is that the lake has been cleaned up
since her last win. That had her contemplating another jump if she
can keep up the kind of consistent play that usually wins major
titles.
On Friday, she made three bogeys in the first 10 holes and then
played the rest of the way in with pars except for her lone bogey
on the 12th hole. The two rounds have rekindled the spirits of the
38-year-old long known for her fiery competitiveness.
"I'm not the kind of player that's going to come out her just
because I have nothing else to do," Pepper said. "I'm going to
play good golf or, trust me, I'm going to find something else to
do."
Late last year, Pepper didn't think she would even be playing.
She had been constantly sick and Arnold Palmer helped get her an
appointment at the Mayo Clinic, where they diagnosed a sinus
problem that had plagued her almost constantly.
"More than anything, I'm happy to be healthy," she said.
"Last year my shoulder never game me any problems but everything
else did. I was pretty ill until the beginning of January."
Wie managed an even-par round of 72 to go with an opening 69
that put her five shots better than at the same time last year when
she first competed here as a 13-year-old. She did it while keeping
her driver mostly in the bag, hitting 3-woods off the tee to keep
the ball in play.
"This year's conditions feel a lot harder than last year," Wie
said. "It's a little windy today, and I'm very proud of myself."
"There's two days to go and I've come back from further behind
in one day," she said.<
^Divots:@ Sorenstam is playing with a wedge given to her by Tiger
Woods a few weeks ago. ... Wie worked until dusk on the range after
her first round, trying to fix a hook in her driver. ... Song, who
led after a first-round 66 that included no bogeys, made four in
her round of 73.