Canadian Women’s Open Canuck-free

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This article was published 05/09/2009 (6182 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

PRIDDIS, Alta. — There was all kinds of red on the leaderboard at the CN Canadian Women’s Open, but none of it was associated with a Canadian.

Song-Hee Kim and Suzann Pettersen found themselves leading the pack midway through a tournament that will be played without a homegrown player over the weekend for the first time ever.

Kim posted a tournament-record 62 while Pettersen shot a 68 on Friday to lead Catriona Matthew (66) and Lorena Ochoa (68) by one shot. M.J. Hur (67), Angela Stanford (65) and Sun Young Yoo (66) were another stroke behind.

Birdies were being made all over Priddis Greens during the second round — the top four women on the leaderboard combined to make an astounding 29 between them.

The players were already looking forward to getting back out there.

“There’s definitely another course record out on this course, so I’m glad there’s another two rounds,” said Pettersen.

For the 12 Canadians in the field, the tournament was over on Friday evening.

Hamilton’s Alena Sharp and amateur Maude-Aimée Leblanc of Sherbrooke, Que., went home feeling the most disappointed.

Leblanc needed just a bogey on the par-5 ninth hole to make the cut, but knocked her approach from a divot into the pond and three-putted for a triple-bogey 8. Sharp saw a make-or-break birdie putt lip out on the final green to miss the weekend by a shot.

“I hit too many good shots to miss the cut this week, but that’s the extra little pressure,” said Sharp. “You try hard not think about it, but it’s always there. Whenever you come to the golf course, when you tee it off the first hole, when you come up the 18th hole, it’s there for sure.”

Another player heading home after two days was Michelle Wie, who rebounded with a second-round 69 but missed the cut for the first time in 15 events this season.

It was a better day for Kim, who used one of the best rounds of her life to move up 48 spots on the leaderboard.

She made six straight birdies out of the gate and ended up bettering Anna Rawson’s day-old course record by two shots. The 21-year-old South Korean was so dialled in that she didn’t realize just how well she was scoring.

“I didn’t know I had six birdies in a row, so it was awesome,” said Kim, who shot a scorching 28 on the front nine. “I mean it was fantastic.”

When the tournament was last held at Priddis Greens in 1999, Canadian Dawn Coe-Jones and Juli Inkster shared the 36-hole lead with a 137 total. Kim, Pettersen and seven other players were all lower this time around.

A decade ago, the event was considered a major so superintendent James Beebe was permitted to have narrower fairways and deeper rough. He isn’t too upset that a strong field featuring the top 75 players on the LPGA money list are making all kinds of birdies on his course.

“I think you’re just in awe to see scores like that,” said Beebe. “And when you’re out there following these ladies and watching how good they are, you can’t be upset about it. I think you just have to applaud them.”

— The Canadian Press