Alternate Williams takes lead

Kim Williams, the last player into the field for the LPGA Big Apple Classic, was tied for first after today's opening round.

Williams, the first alternate who found out she was playing just two hours before teeing off, shot a 4-under-par 67 and was tied with Rosie Jones and Allison Finney for the lead at Wykagyl Country Club.

Annika Sorenstam, coming off her fourth victory of the year, and Michele Redman and Jennifer Feldott were tied for fourth with 69s.

``I got here about 10 o'clock last night. I drove up from my mom's house in Maryland,'' said Williams, who started on the back nine and closed her round with four birdies and a bogey over the final six holes. ``I got here at 6:30 this morning, you have to if you're first alternate, and right after I got here I saw one of the officials and they said `You know you're in?' I said `No.' They said `Yeah, you're in for Wendy Doolan.'''

Doolan waited as long as she could but was forced to withdraw because of a hand injury. That got Williams a chance and she responded with her low round of the year and her first below 70.

``I hadn't hit a ball for 10 days because I have a bad back,'' Williams said. ``They called me, so I had to go to work.''

Williams' best finish in her 11 years on tour was a tie for second in 1988. She had back surgery in September 1998 and that limited her to eight tournaments last year.

``I had a very large ruptured disc. Then I came back, rehabbed it, missed about eight months and re-herniated again last year about this time,'' she said. ``This was one of my last tournaments last year and I had to start all over again.''

Coming back is nothing new to Williams. She was struck in the neck by a stray bullet in 1994 as she walked into a drug store in Youngstown, Ohio, hours after completing a tournament round. The bullet lodged in her right shoulder and was removed the next year.

Even after a round as good as Thursday's, Williams had to answer questions about the shooting.

``I'd rather be known as `The girl that won the tournament, did you know she got shot?' rather than `Oh, that's the girl that got shot.'''

Jones and Finney closed with flourishs.

Finney, whose only career victory came in 1989, played the last four holes in 4 under, eagling the par-5 15th with a 12-foot putt and getting birdies on the par-3 16th and par-5 18th.

``I was kind of coasting and got hot the last few holes,'' said Finney, who had missed four straight cuts before tying for 51st last week in the Jamie Farr Kroger Classic. ``Making the cut last week was a big boost for me. I'm not exempt this year and it's just been hard for me to get started.''

Jones, who has 10 career wins including one in each of the last five years, birdied the two closing par-5s and made a 2 on the 16th with an 8-foot putt.

``I got a little bonus on 16 because that is just one of those holes where you're trying to make par and get out of there,'' Jones said of the 164-yard hole. ``You're going to pass the field a little bit when you make birdies on holes like that.''

Jones finished third in this tournament in 1990 and was second in 1993.

Sorenstam, who won this event in 1998 and is second on the money list, was 2 over after nine and her four birdies on the back included the two late par-5s.

Juli Inkster, third on the LPGA money list, had a 70, including an eagle at No. 15, while Karrie Webb, No. 1 on the money list, had a 71.

Defending champion Sherri Steinhauer opened with a 74.

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