After much of Thursday's stormy opening round was suspended, the USGA had to play catch up Friday at the 66th U.S. Women's Open. For the most part, they were successful. Until 6:09 p.m. local time, when the horn sounded again, halting play at The Broadmoor for a second straight day and leaving a field of 156 golfers either on the course or still waiting for their late tee time.
Play resumed at 7:15 p.m. MDT, but the damage had been done. Weekend cuts won't be made until sometime Saturday.
Here are 10 players on the still early leaderboard that will not only make that cut, but could win at Broadmoor.
The overnight leader is I.K. Kim, whose three birdie performance through 14 holes gave her a four-under-par total.
Kim is no stranger to rounds under par. She is currently second on the LPGA Tour in that category and has five top 10 finishes—including three top fives—in eight starts.
On the strength of her opening round 68, Stacy Lewis, winner of the LPGA Tour's first major this year, the Kraft Nabisco Championship, made it through 13 holes at five under par before a bogey and double bogey sent her two shots back at two under par.
"I hit a lot of good shots, left it on the right side of the holes," Lewis said after completing her opening round. "I mean, I love where I am. Anything under par at a U.S. Open is a good spot."
Lewis is followed closely by Wendy Ward and Amy Anderson.
Ward is no stranger to major championship success. She finished in sixth place or better four times during her 16-year career. Meanwhile, Anderson is a little-known amateur, who after an opening round 69, never got her second day started. She was one of 66 players yet to begin their second round.
LPGA Tour rookie Ryann O'Toole has been the surprise of the championship so far. The first year player from UCLA has done absolutely nothing so far this year. In four starts, her best finish is T32 at the Avnet LPGA Classic back in May. She was at three under par at one point but showed fatigue by slipping back to even par after 14 holes with three bogeys in a four-hole stretch.
Defending U.S. Women's Open champion Paula Creamer was in a group with five other golfers, just three shots back at one under par. Creamer is doing what she does best, hanging around major championship leaderboards and keeping herself in contention without making many mistakes.
"I played pretty solid," Creamer said. "I had several three putts, but I made several birdies also. You know, it's out there. You can definitely shoot a good score. It's just eliminating those bogeys."
World Golf Hall of Famer Karrie Webb, who managed a solid opening round 70, was pleased with her position. She hopes to eventually regain her early momentum because she never got her second round underway on Friday.
"I'm very happy with shooting one under," Webb said. "I had a lot of momentum going yesterday afternoon when play was stopped. So that was disappointing because I thought we might have gotten lucky and gotten done. It's hard to pick that momentum up."
Speaking of lost momentum, Cristie Kerr was the overnight leader Thursday, but finished her first round Friday morning with back-to-back bogeys and a par. Still she managed an even par start.
Don't let Yani Tseng's slow three over par start fool you. The No. 1 player in the world has been hampered by a poor putting performance thus far. If she finds her groove on these greens, she could catch fire in a hurry and claw her way back to the top of the leaderboard.
"I just have to be patient," Tseng said. "You're not going to win it on the first day."
Cindy LaCrosse got her major championship initiation two weeks ago at the Wegmans LPGA Championship, playing well for three days and earning a final round pairing with eventual winner Tseng before collapsing on Sunday.
"It did kind of motivate me," LaCrosse said. "Not to have that happen again and be so much better and stronger when I'm in that position again."
She's well on her way with an opening round 71.
Flash interviews conducted outside the 2011 U.S. Women's Open Media Center at The Broadmoor.
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