GOLF: Unheralded Min gets the jump on star-studded Kia Classic field
LA COSTA -- The field for the Kia Classic this week at La CostaResort and Spa includes the best player in the world (LorenaOchoa), the hottest player in the world (Ai Miyazato) and the mostintriguing player in the world (Michelle Wie).
And by sundown on Thursday, they were all looking up at arelatively unknown 21-year-old from South Korea named Na OnMin.
Min crafted the second-best round of her career, a bogey-free6-under-par 66, good for a one-stroke lead over Na Yeon Choi.
A couple of recent major champions -- Inbee Park, who won the2008 U.S. Open, and Catriona Matthew, who won the British Open lastyear just 11 weeks after giving birth to her second child ---- areanother stroke back at 4-under 68 with Seon Hwa Lee.
A 50-foot putt for par on the fourth hole appeared to jump-startMin’s round.
“I think after that I got my putter feel,” Min said.
Her birdies came at 7, 8, 11, 13, 16 and 17.
“I made a couple of (20- to 25-footers), so I felt pretty goodon my putting today,” she said.
Ochoa (70), Wie (72) and Miyazato (74) met with varying degreesof success on a sunny, but cool and windy, day on the 6,646-yardlayout, which was a regular stop on the PGA Tour for nearly 40years before the World Match Play Championship left town forArizona after 2006.
Wie, playing in the afternoon, hit a rough patch with threebogeys in four holes on the back nine when the greens got bumpy andthe wind picked up.
Miyazato, who is attempting to become the first player in LPGAhistory to win the first three tournaments of the season, was notdiscouraged with a round that left her tied for 59th.
“I still have a chance on this golf course,” she said.
Ochoa is part of a group of six players tied for eighth.
“I’m happy the way I started,” said Ochoa, the reigningfour-time tour player of the year. “You know, that three-putt Ididn’t feel good about, but at the same time it was good to beunder par. Looks like the course is playing tough, so I’m happywith that.”
The three-putt for Ochoa came on her final hole, the 399-yard,par-4 ninth.
Local fans may remember Choi, a 22-year-old from South Korea,from the Samsung World Championship at Torrey Pines Golf Courselast September. Choi won that tournament with a birdie on the 72ndhole after losing a seven-stroke lead in the final round.
Before this, Min was best known for her play in the 2007 LPGAChampionship. At the age of 18, and playing in just her seventhprofessional tournament, she shot a 65 in the third round to takethe lead in one of the tour’s four majors and found herself in thefinal group on Sunday with Karrie Webb and Suzann Pettersen.
“At that tournament, I didn’t know anything,” Min said. “Nothingto be afraid of. So I hit it and hit it again. But right now it’sdifferent.
“Yeah, that tournament was a really good memory for me.”
But 10 months ago, Min hurt her wrist so badly that she didn’tpick up a club for four months. She did hit the gym, though. Andshe hit it a lot.
“More than normal,” Min said. “Maybe two times a day. ... It waspretty boring.”
Min said she played in a few minor tournaments in Florida as atune-up for the season, but this is her first appearance on toursince last May 24.
Murrieta resident Eunjung Yi had five birdies, but offset themwith three bogeys, and is part of the group at 2-under 70 thatincludes Ochoa.
Playing in her first tournament of the season, former Carlsbadresident Leta Lindley shot a 3-over 75. And Tiffany Joh, the formerUCLA All-American and a graduate of Rancho Bernardo High, had a76.
Ji Young Oh withdrew with a wrist injury.