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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

Hard-fought one-under satisfies Creamer

By: Tim Campbell and Gary Lawless

Posted: 08/27/2010 1:00 AM | Comments: 0 (including replies)

TREVOR HAGAN / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Enlarge Image

Michelle Wie (right) waves to emergency personnel after a man fainted Thursday.

TOUR star Paula Creamer battled her way to a one-under 71 on Thursday.

"It was tough out there with the wind," said Creamer. "It's bouncy out there and with the wind it's like a British Open. I'll take one-under. This is the way it should be. You don't want it soft out there. The course should be tough like it is. This should be a good test this weekend."

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More than a few St. Charles members despise the two oaks that guard the left corner of the left-doglegging par-4 16th.

Lexi Thompson wants to join that club after those mature trees gobbled up her golf ball on Thursday morning.

The 15-year-old freshman pro was off to a fine start to the CN Canadian Women's Open, one-under through six holes, when her three-wood tee shot off the 16th flew into the side-by-side trees.

The ball hit high, rattled off two branches and was not heard from again by any one of the two dozen spectators below.

"I actually thought it was going to be good and I picked up my tee like it was a good shot and then I see everybody, like, 'Where is it? It's stuck up in the tree,' " Thompson said. "That's nice."

Not really, but she bounced back smartly to shoot a one-under 71, aided by an eagle-three at the par-5 fifth. A drive and a seven-iron to 15 feet did the trick there.

"I played pretty good," Thompson said. "Got one bad break on one hole. But I came back. That's all that matters."

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It was a shivery but clear morning as the sun rose over St. Charles, the near-full moon hanging prominently over the 10th green.

A half-hour before her tee time, New Mexico's Katie Kempter was seen skipping rope by the putting green, just to warm up.

And as the first group of the day was preparing to hit the Open's first shot, Don Jeffrey of Bel Acres was a solitary figure in the grandstand behind the first tee.

"I thought I better get here early because I didn't know how many people would be here," Jeffrey said.

He had the best seat in the house for Paraguay's Julieta Granada hitting the Open's first shot at 7 a.m.

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Within the span of 15 minutes, two spectators collapsed near the first tee.

The first, a man wearing a World Golf Village hat, fainted right next to the fence bordering the tee, just after Jiyai Shin had teed off. Shin, Cristie Kerr and Michelle Wie all looked on with concern and their group didn't resume their game for 10 minutes while medical personnel attended to the fan.

A short time later, a women fainted near the first-tee grandstand and also received medical attention.

Tournament officials said late in the afternoon both spectators just fainted and were doing fine.

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Two players were disqualified late Thursday.

Both Shi Hyn Ahn and Il Mi Chung of South Korea, played in the day's third-last group, played each other's balls from the rough on No. 18 and didn't realize it until they left the scoring tent.

For breaching Rule 15-3b, they were both disqualified, leaving the field at 154 for today.

tim.campbell@freepress.mb.ca gary.lawless@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition August 27, 2010 C2

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