Albers aces her way into lead

Kristi Albers turned her day around with one swing. Michelle Wie's round ended when she was barely halfway through.

Albers had a hole-in-one on the 17th and shot a 5-under 67 for a share of the lead with defending champion Hee-Won Han in the rain-delayed opening round of the Wendy's Championship for Children on Thursday.

A violent storm rocked Tartan Fields Golf Club late in the day after half of the 144-player field had completed the first round. After a delay of 1 hour, 29 minutes, play resumed briefly before a second storm washed out the round.

The remaining 66 players will complete their rounds early Friday, with the second round set to follow.

The hard winds, heavy rain and lightning created chaos in the scoring. It took more than an hour after play was called off before the tournament leaders were officially confirmed.

Wie, the tall, long-hitting 14-year-old amateur with the effortless swing, was 3 over through 10 holes.

She double-bogeyed her last hole, flying the green after a perfect drive. From weeds and rough behind the hole, she chipped back across the green, then chipped to 15 feet and two-putted for a 6.

Norway's Suzann Pettersen was a shot back of the co-leaders at 4 under through 17 holes.

Nancy Scranton, almost 5 months pregnant with twins, shot a 69 to share fourth place with Patricia Meunier-Lebouc, Dottie Pepper, 2002 Wendy's winner Mi Hyun Kim, Lori Kane and Ji Yeon Lee. All but Lee, 3 under through 12 holes, finished the first round.

Playing in the first group off the tee, Albers took advantage of mild conditions -- the wind picked up midday before the storm clouds came -- to post her lowest score of the year. She was even-par through her first seven holes when she pulled out a 9-iron on the 135-yard, par-3 17th, which slopes from an elevated tee with the green on the other side of a large pond.

"I hit it thin and I was saying, 'Get up! Get up!' and it hit on the front of the green and it rolled. It was dead on the hole and it just disappeared," said Albers, whose only tour victory came in the 1993 Sprint Classic. "I said to my playing partners, 'Please don't tell people how I just hit that shot.' It was a good miss."

Building on the hole-in-one, Albers added three more birdies. After hitting an 8-iron to 2 feet at No. 2, she hit her second shot over the green at the par-4 5th and then holed a 40-foot chip from the rough.

At No. 9, she chipped to 3 feet to finish off her lowest competitive round since a 66 in last year's State Farm Classic.

Han was 5 under through 13 holes when play was suspended the first time. She came back to play three more holes, birdieing her 16th hole to regain a share of the lead. She faced a 3-foot putt for par on the eighth green when play was called off for the day.

The South Korean won the 2003 Wendy's by rolling in a 25-foot birdie putt to edge Wendy Ward on the third playoff hole.

Asked why she plays so well at Tartan Fields, Han said, "I don't know why. I like these greens and the speed. I like this course and the course likes me."

Pepper, making a farewell tour prior to her retirement, celebrated her 39th birthday two days late.

"It was a pretty good round. Even on the first nine, when the wind was howling, I hit some pretty good golf shots," Pepper said.

Wie three-putted from the back fringe for a bogey at No. 14 and then dropped to 2 over when she three-putted from 18 feet at No. 16. She rolled in an 8-foot birdie putt at the par-3 17th to get to 1 over before running into problems on hole No. 1.

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