Karrie Webb overcame a 9
on the fourth hole to shoot a 3-over-par 75 today for a three-stroke lead after
two rounds of the wind-buffeted LPGA Office Depot tournament.
After a day facing north
wind of 25 mph with gusts to 36, Webb, the leader by two strokes after the first
round, was at 4-under-par 140.
"It's good to be finished."
Webb said. "It's a little disappointing, but I didn't do any real damage. Normally,
I think I'm a pretty good wind player but there are always extremes. At least
it wasn't freezing cold but back home in Australia we wouldn't even go out and
play on a day like this."
At the par-5 fourth, Webb's
third shot got caught by the wind and dropped into a lake in front of the green.
After a drop, she wedged her fifth shot into a sand trap behind the green, skulled
her sixth back across the green into the front bunker, finally reached the putting
surface and two-putted from 20 feet.
"It looked like I was playing
tennis on that hole," Webb smiled. "No, I don't remember the last time I made
a quadruple bogey. I try not to remember things like that. But it's just one
of those things. I was trying 100 percent on every shot."
Webb birdied the first
two holes to lead by four strokes, but after making bogeys at Nos. 8 and 10,
she trailed Liselotte Neumann by a shot. Webb reclaimed the lead with birdies
at Nos. 11, 12 and 14.
Fan favorite Nancy Lopez
shot a 1-over 73 to move into second at 143.
"My tempo and concentration
have been pretty good considering I haven't been playing much," said Lopez, a
member of the LPGA Hall of Fame who is playing this week on a sponsor's exemption.
"It should be a lot of fun the next two days."
As for her chances of remaining
in contention, Lopez, 43, said, "All I want to do is play the type of golf the
next two days that I have the last two. My putting is a little rusty because
of the layoff but I'm excited by the way I'm hitting the ball and I'd love to
win and prove to myself that I've still got it."
The most recent of Lopez's
48 LPGA titles was in 1997 at Atlanta.
Neumann and Juli Inkster,
tied for second with 67s after the first round, matched 77s and were at 144 with
Beth Daniel, who had a 76.
Most of the leaders played
the 6,277-yard Legend course Friday, the exception being Daniel on the adjacent,
6,195-yard Heritage of the Ibis Country Club.
