Marshall & Yeo share opening honours

After struggling through a rough month, two bad holes were not enough to derail Kathryn Marshall.

Marshall birdied her final hole Thursday to cap a 3-under-par 68 and grab a share of the lead with Korea's Minny Yeo after the first round of the Sybase Big Apple Classic.

A 35-year-old from Scotland, Marshall had sole possession of the lead before bogeying the seventh and eighth holes -- her 16th and 17th of the day -- at the Wykagyl Country Club. But she lofted a sand wedge to two feet at the par-4 ninth and made the easy putt to join the unheralded Yeo atop an impressive leaderboard.

"Yes, that was huge psychologically, a huge boost for me," Marshall said. "I'll definitely sleep better tonight. I watch the scoreboard all the time and I knew I was leading at 4-under. ... So it was good to come back to be joint leader after I almost let it slip away."

Yeo entered this tournament only after countrywoman Se Ri Pak withdrew. She made the most of just her ninth round on the LPGA Tour this season with five birdies and two bogeys.

"All day, I was pretty far (from the pin), so I made a lot of good putts," said Yeo, who missed the cut in her first two appearances at this tournament. "I three-putted twice and I got (five birdies). This is my third year here, so I think I better play better this time. Actually, I like this course."

So does 1999 champion Sherri Steinhauer, who opened with a 69 and is tied for third with Kelli Kuehne, Kris Tschetter and Italy's Silvia Cavalleri.

Australia's Karrie Webb shot 1-under 70 and is part of a 10-way tie for seventh place. It's another stroke back to Sweden's Annika Sorenstam and 21 others. Sorenstam leads the LPGA Tour with six wins, $1.8 million and a 68.80 scoring average.

While Sorenstam has been on a season-long roll, Marshall has missed three straight cuts since tying for 15th at last month's Evian Masters.

"I had a really good stretch until Evian. Then my husband and I were discussing whether or not to take a week off," Marshall recalled. "We decided to keep going, and that was the worst mistake we ever made. I missed four cuts in a row. The last one, I missed by one when I thought we were in, and that's hard to take. So it's been a tough last month."

Her fortunes reversed at Wykagyl, where the greens played tougher than years past.

"You're usually having touchy-feely putts, now you've got to really rap them up the hill," Marshall said. "They're still tricky downhill. Psychologically, it's tough because you always come here knowing the greens are going to be tough, and that's probably kept the scores up a little."

Marshall started on the back nine and made birdies at the 11th and 18th holes. She also birdied a pair of par-3s -- the 160-yard second hole and 197-yard fourth -- before running into trouble at the par-3 seventh.

Yeo also bogeyed No. 7, but that followed back-to-back birdies and dropped her to 1-under. The 30-year-old California resident rebounded with a 10-foot birdie at No. 8 but gave back the stroke with another bogey at the par-4 11th hole.

Yeo had trouble off the tee at the 14th and 18th holes but recovered to make birdie putts of 20 and seven feet, respectively, to reach 3-under. Unlike Marshall, she likes the tricky greens.

"Actually, the last two years, (they were) so fast, so this kind of slow is perfect," Yeo said.

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