SUNNINGDALE, England -- With a suddenness made more shocking by the abundance of blue sky, the heavens opened and rain poured down on Sunningdale Golf Club shortly before noon Friday during the second round of the Ricoh Women's British Open. "Just a 10-minute cloud burst," said a decidedly English-accented voice. He was wrong. It was eight minutes and 45 seconds. These Brits know their rain.

The Sunningdale course the players attacked Friday was very different than the venue laid to waste with 65 subpar rounds on Thursday. The wind out of the northwest was steady and strong, and showers made several unannounced visits.

"Yesterday the golf course played about as easy as it could play," Natalie Gulbis said after a second-round 68 left her at seven-under-par 137. The impressive effort by Gulbis came despite three-putt bogeys on Nos. 15 and 17, her only hiccups of the day. "Today, we had a little wind, passing showers. This was the British Open."

Gulbis, whose game has been rounding into shape the last couple of weeks after a fairly dismal start to the season, (T-17 last week at the Evian Masters after missing the cut in three of her five previous events) has struggled with her driver this year, especially after the one she had been using was broken on a flight after the McDonald's LPGA Championship.

"I've gone through four since then," said Gulbis, who has also been working with her swing coach Butch Harmon on hitting more fairways.

Want a glimpse into the glamorous life of a professional golfer? Gulbis had a 7:14 a.m. tee time Friday. That meant getting up a 4 to stretch, shower, fix her hair and put on makeup. Her outfit was laid out the night before, which was when she also marked the golf balls she would use in the second round. She was out of the house at 5 a.m. and off to the course to meet caddie Greg Sheridan for breakfast and warm up. One good thing about her seven-under-par score: She'll have a late tee time on Saturday and get to sleep longer.

--Ron Sirak

SUNNINGDALE, England -- As odd rounds go, the one Laura Diaz recorded Friday in the second round of the Ricoh Women's British Open was on the plus side of the international oddity scale. She made three eagles -- tying the LPGA record for a round -- and still failed to break par at Sunningdale Golf Club. It's not a round Diaz will likely forget soon, and as she showed afterward, she is a woman with a long memory.

After detailing the 72 that got her into the clubhouse after 36 holes at six-under-par 138, Diaz was asked if she has had a chance to tackle Dottie Pepper about the "choking freaking dogs" comment she uttered that accidentally made on the air during the Golf Channel broadcast of last year's Solheim Cup, referring to the American team of Diaz and Sherrie Steinhauer. "No," Diaz said, quickly adding: "Do you want me to? It would be my pleasure." And that's exactly what she did.

"I don't think I will ever in my life do an interview with her again," said Diaz, whose brother Ron Philo Jr., also a professional golfer, dated Pepper for two years while in college. "Dottie was like a family member to me and now she is not even a friend. It was a low blow. A golfer should know better."

Diaz said Pepper made one attempt to approach her, "But you can pretty much read me," Diaz said quite accurately, indicating Pepper thought better of the attempt.

"Johnny Miller had to apologize for [the pool boy] comment about Rocco [Mediate] but she never really apologized," Diaz said. Pepper did say on the air the next day that the comment was not intended to be heard on the air, but the U.S. Solheim Cup  team did not take that as a real apology. They felt it made no difference whether or not the comment was aired, they felt it should never have been said.

"As a commentator, you shouldn't talk with emotion," said Diaz, speaking with the emotion of a player whose feelings were hurt. "Sherrie and I were both hurt," Diaz said. "It was a heart thing. It hurt us in the heart. As a team, we decided not to talk about it."

As an individual, Diaz felt no such restrictions Friday at Sunningdale. And as a competitor, she is very much in the running as the Women's British heads into the weekend. Her 72 followed an opening-round 66 played when Sunningdale was pretty much defenseless.

"I said to my husband [and caddie Kevin] yesterday, 'I don't think I've ever played over here when it was this calm.' Today we had wind, we had rain, we had sun. This is what I'm used to."

Diaz has had a solid year -- 20th in scoring average, 23rd on the money list, a T-5 at the McDonald's LPGA Championship where she was in the hunt until the 71st hole -- and has been playing with a newfound calm the last couple of seasons since her first child, son Cooper, was born 2 1/2 years ago.

She boosted that tranquility this week by seeking out Pia Nilsson and Lynn Marriott, the gurus of the Vision 54 philosophy. "I was talking to Suzann [Pettersen] about it and she suggested I talk with them," Diaz said. "We've worked on my commitment to shots, and that commitment has been really good for two days."  Two more days of that focus and she could be taking home her first major championship trophy to go with her other two LPGA titles. And she won't have to worry about talking to Dottie Pepper. She's not here this week.

--Ron Sirak

SUNNINGDALE, England -- Unless nature conspires to create some cruel conditions lacking Thursday morning, the par-72 Old Course at Sunningdale Golf Club will play more like a par-68 course this week for the Ricoh Women's British Open. Anyone who wants to win the last LPGA major championship of the year better start making birdies early and not let up. Sort of like Juli Inkster did in the first round.

Inkster, who was so dismayed after missing the cut at the U.S. Women's Open she took three weeks off and seriously considered skipping both last week's Evian Masters, where she finished T-9, and the Women's British, took advantage of calm, cool conditions and soft greens to shoot a 65, tying the opening-round record for this tournament.

"I was playing so poorly I almost didn't go to France," Inkster said after her bogey-free round. "But my daughters would have killed me. They love that trip." Not only did she pick up a top-10 check at Evian, she asked her close friend Karrie Webb if her coach, Ian Triggs, would take a look at her swing.

"I told him to eat well and sleep well because I knew [we would practice a lot on Monday]," Inkster said. "It wasn't a major overhaul. We worked on my posture -- I was getting a little saggy -- and we worked on getting the club to come back down on the same path." The swing repeated impressively on Thursday.

Among the highlights of Inkster's round, she drove the 273-yard ninth hole and rolled in an 18-footer for eagle. "I was pleasantly surprised when I teed the ball up on No. 1 and it went straight," she said with a smile. "I hit the ball great today. I'm not saying I'm going to play like this every day, but I hit the ball great today."

If Inkster, 48, should keep it up for four rounds she would become the oldest woman to win a major championship, the oldest to win an LPGA event and would join Webb as the only players to complete the Super Slam -- five major championships.

Webb won the Kraft Nabisco Championship, the McDonald's LPGA Championship, the U.S. Women's Open and the DuMaurier Classic, which was replaced as a major by the Women's British Open in 2001, which she won in 2002. Inkster has the first four.

Asked if the victory last week at the Evian Masters by 43-year-old Helen Alfredsson inspired her, Inkster said: "Helen never inspires me. You can put that in bold print. It's great to see someone in her 40s win, but I had my own issues to work out."

If Alfredsson, who opened with a 69 at Sunningdale, was a popular winner last week at Evian, a victory this week by Inkster would be off the charts. As Hall of Fame players go in any sport, there are few who are as down to earth. After her round she was more interested in what moves were being made as the baseball trading deadline loomed than she was in who was where on the leader board at Sunningdale.

"I really love the game," Inkster said when asked if retirement was anywhere on her radar screen. "I go out and play for fun." She did say competing next year was a question mark and talked about wanting to coach high school golf. But does anyone really think Inkster would step away in a Solheim Cup year?

Can Inkster get it done this week at Sunningdale? Absolutely. Throw in her three consecutive U.S. Women's Amateur titles and she has won 10 major championships. She knows how to win. She also has her own unique perspective on what tough is, and on what's important.

"I was in Portland some years back and Corey [her now 14-year-old daughter] had an ear infection and a temperature of 102," Inkster recalled. "We went to the emergency room and were there until 7:30 the next morning, and I had like a 9:20 tee time. I don't remember what I shot, but I probably played well because I was in a fog and I wasn't thinking. I do remember the ER doctor walked all 18 holes with me."

Inkster's older daughter, Hayley, 18, starts college at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles this fall, and Corey starts high school a week later. "Now I have to worry about them coming home at night -- especially in France," she says, with a laugh.

Inkster had one great career before putting it in idle for six years to get her two daughters off on the right foot. Then she came back to have another great career. She's still playing very well, and don't believe her when she says the end is in sight -- at least not this week.

--Ron Sirak

SUNNINGDALE, England -- If there is any golf course where following the proper path is essential, it is the Sunningdale Golf Club. Find the route and stick to it, and you can go low. This inland links course is hash-marked by cross-bunkers and heather-covered hills slashing willy-nilly across the fairways. Stay out of that stuff and birdies can be abundant at this week's Ricoh Women's British  Open, as they have been in the past.

The fickle nature of a links layout was demonstrated by the conflicting results Thursday by Lorena Ochoa and Annika Sorenstam on the 485-yard par-5 first hole. Ochoa drove into the right rough about one yard from being unplayable. Then her pitch back to the fairway appeared headed for the tangled rough on the hill crossing the fairway when it bounced fortuitously to the left. Taking advantage of that break, she played her approach to 25 feet and made the birdie putt.

Sorenstam, playing in the following group, also drove into the right rough and her punch-out attempt didn't make it back to the short grass. She punched out again but could only play it across the fairway short of the green. She then pitched on to 25 feet and missed the par putt. After a bogey on No. 3, Sorenstam was two over on an easy opening stretch -- two par 5s and a short par 4 -- after which a player should be one under, at worst.

Ochoa made it home in three-under 69, while Sorenstam, playing what could very well be her last major, rallied with two birdies on the back nine for a 72. With all four par 5s reachable in two -- a couple with mid-irons -- and the 273-yard par-4 ninth drivable, it's going to take four rounds well below 69 to win. Karen Stupples won here at 19 under par in 2004 as did Karrie Webb in 1997, before it was a major. The highest winning score at Sunningdale was 11-under-par 277 by Se Ri Pak in 2001, the first year the Women's British was a major and when the weather was nasty.

--Ron Sirak

SUNNINGDALE, England -- One of the big stories bouncing around jolly old England this week is that more than 1,400 pubs closed in Britain last year, six times the nmber that closed for business the previous year. Of course, the pub owners will get a boost this week from the contingent of LPGA caddies in town for the Ricoh Women's British Open. The other story rattling around Sunningdale Golf Club involved a player not in the field: Michelle Wie.

Wie, who had not qualified to play the Women's British, had signed up to play a qualifier for the tournament, but then withdrew, in part because her handlers found out the money won here does not count toward her effort to earn a 2009 LPGA card off the tour's money list. Another reason for Wie's withdrawal from the qualifier popped up last week when Team Wie announced she would be playing in the PGA Tour event in Reno this week.

The reaction of LPGA players to the news Wie was playing against the men the week of a women's major -- and thus potentially stealing some of the coverage from the Ricoh event -- was, at its most gentle, incredulous and, at it's extreme, furious. It's another example, said player after player, of the Wie camp's lack of respect for the LPGA and the women's game in general.

"I feel kind of sad for her," Helen Alfredsson, winner of the Evian Masters last week, said Tuesday at Sunningdale. "I feel sad for the guidance she is getting in the wrong direction. The exhibition time for her is over. If she wants to be a golfer, I think she should concentrate on the women's tour and learn how to win."

"We have a major this week," said Annika Sorenstam, who is playing in her last major before retirement. "If you can't qualify for it, you shouldn't be playing with the men."

Interestingly, Wie's coach won't be with her in Reno this week. David Leadbetter was at Royal Birkdale for the men's Open Championship and then vacationed in southeast England for a week with his family. He'll stay around until the Women's British gets underway, working with one of his newest pupils, Suzann Pettersen.

For at least two years now Leadbetter has been outspoken about his feeling that playing against the men is not the right thing for Wie to do until she gets stronger and more confident. While he did not say so, his decision to be with Pettersen this week and not in Reno is an indication by Leadbetter of how he feels about her jumping back into the fray against the men just as she was getting her swing -- and more importantly her confidence -- back.

There is also considerable emotion among the players here about the reaction to Wie's disqualification at the State Farm Classic two weeks ago for not signing her scorecard. "People are blaming the rule, people are blaming the LPGA, people are blaming the volunteer, people are blaming everyone except the person at fault  -- the player," said one veteran tour player, venting off to the side of the practice green at Sunningdale as a rain squall Tuesday afternoon sent folks scurrying for cover.

Let's get back to those pubs, because one of the wonderful things about British life is how the local waterhole serves as a community gathering spot that draws a neighborhood together. Two factors are being blamed: Banning smoking in pubs, and more people buying beer in supermarkets and drinking it at home in front of the "telly" rather than with friends in a pub. Sad, really.

Here's another number that grabbed my attention: Britons send more than 1.4 billion text messages every week, according to a report by the Mobile Data Associations. That's 23 for every man, woman and child in the country. That number will also go up this week, since text messaging is the communication method of choice between players and caddies -- and sometimes between players and reporters.

Got to go. Just received a text from a player and her caddie wanting to know if I want to join them in keeping the pubs of Britain in business. More later.

-- Ron Sirak

EVIAN-LES-BAINS, France -- Tournament golf would be a lot more interesting if Helen Alfredsson contended every week. While the mercurial Swede is not exactly everyone's cup of tea, she is funny, clever and speaks her mind. She can also, at age 43, strike the golf ball with the best of them, as she proved last month at the U.S. Women's Open, and again Friday at the Evian Masters where she shot a course-record 63.

"I've loved this place since the the first time I was here in 1994," Alfredsson said after making nine birdies, six of which came on putts inside five feet and none of which were longer than 12 feet. Alfie won that '94 Evian Masters and took home the trophy here again in 1998. Injury and age have conspired to keep her out of the winner's circle since the 2003 Longs Drugs Challenge.

But with a variety of ailments apparently behind her, Alfie has found her game again. She was atop the leader board in the Women's Open at Interlachen last month until her putting stroke abandoned her in the final round. What has never abandoned Alfie is her sense of humor, which can be both gentle and brutal. You don't want to be on the receiving end of an Alfredsson barb.

When a journalist waited for a microphone before he asked a question she bellowed, "Do you think I'm deaf or something?" And when asked about going for the par-5 18th hole in two she made chicken noises and said, "I didn't want to hear that from my playing partners."

Asked about how her nerves will hold up on the weekend, she said: "My husband [Kent Nilsson, who played on a Stanley Cup-winning Edmonton Oilers team] says the nerves get worse the older you get, and I'm going the other direction," waving her hand behind her.

The 63 was the second for Alfredsson in an LPGA event. The first was in the 1994 U.S. Women's Open at Indianwood CC in Michigan. It was a 63 she described Friday as "bittersweet." What she didn't say is that is preceded one of the most heartbreaking meltdowns in major championship play.

Alfie was leading the Open by seven strokes through 44 holes. On the 45th hole she three-putted from 3 feet and proceeded to play the next 18 holes in 85 strokes. But that was 14 years ago. And as Alfie said when asked if she let her mind skip ahead when she was making birdies Friday: "I'm 43. Don't you think I've learned anything in these years?"

One thing she hasn't lost is her sense of humor, and that's a good thing.

-- Ron Sirak

EVIAN-LES-BAINS, France -- If you want to understand why Annika Sorenstam is walking away from competitive golf at the end of the year when she will be only 38 years old and still one of the best players in the game, consider this:

Over the next seven weeks, she will play tournaments in this order: Evian Masters (France), Ricoh Women's British Open (England), Scandinavian TPC Hosted by Annika (Sweden), CN Canadian Women's Open (Canada,) Safeway International (Portland, Ore.), off week and then the  Nykredit Masters (Denmark). That's six tournaments in seven weeks in six different countries.

And that "off week" includes a couple days of outings for her business partners and several meetings concerning her various businesses.

"People look at golf and say 'How can that be exhausting?' and they don't consider all that goes into it," Sorenstam said at the Evian Masters. "Even when you have an off week you still practice every day and work out every day. It never ends."

After 15 years, it will end for Sorenstam at the Dubai Ladies Masters, Dec. 11-14. "I am definitely not playing any tournament golf next year," she said, addressing those who just can't believe she can walk away from the game cold turkey.

-- Ron Sirak

The LPGA State Farm Classic and the Clothes Off Our Back Foundation have teamed up to raise money for children's charities through an online auction with part of the proceeds going to Golf Fore Africa, the non-profit organization set up by former player Betsy King to help AIDS orphans in Rwanda. The auction, which begins July 14 and runs for two weeks, will include signed items donated by King, Karrie Webb, Sherri Steinhauer, Natalie Gulbis, Michelle Wie and others. Click here for details.

"This is the first golf-related auction since Clothes Off Our Back began, and we are excited to be working with the State Farm Classic and Golf Fore Africa to host this event," said Clothes Off Our Back executive director Michel Schneider. The charity is the creation of Jane Kaczmarek, the seven-time Emmy nominated actress for "Malcolm in the Middle," and her husband, Bradley Whitford, who won an Emmy for his portrayal of Josh Lyman in "The West Wing." Their charity works with celebrities, athletes and other high-profile individuals to raise money for children's causes such as autism research, hunger relief, critically ill children and girls' scholarship programs in Africa.

King started Golf Fore Africa after touring several AIDS-ravaged African countries, one of which was Rwanda. She was especially touched by the story of Rwanda, which underwent a genocide in 1994 during which more than 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed by Hutu extremists in 100 days. King returned to Rwanda last October with fellow Hall of Famer Juli Inkster, former LPGA player Renee Powell, current players Reilley Rankin and Katherine Hull and teaching pro Wendy Poscillico. This year at the McDonald's LPGA Championship, Golf Fore African presented a check for $250,000 to the relief organization World Vision to help its work in the Rwandan village of Mudasomwa.

"After seeing with my own eyes the devastating conditions in Rwanda caused by AIDS and the 1994 genocide, I knew I had to do something to help," King said. "Thanks to all the players who have contributed to this effort, the State Farm Classic and the Clothes Off Our Back Foundation, we will continue to provide hope for children trying to survive a world many of us cannot even imagine."

The State Farm Classic runs July 17-20 at Panther Creek Country Club in Springfield, Ill.

--Ron Sirak

EDINA, Minn. -- Gary Gilchrist, the instructor who developed Michelle Wie while he was working for David Leadbetter and then left when Leadbetter took over the coaching duties after Wie emerged as a star, has lost another top player -- once again to Leadbetter.

Gilchrist and Suzann Pettersen, the No. 3 player in the Rolex Rankings, parted ways a couple weeks ago. Late Tuesday the Norwegian star was seen working under the watchful eye of Leadbetter on the short-game practice area at Interlachen CC, were the U.S. Women's Open starts Thursday.

Sources in the Pettersen camp said Suzann was looking for more specific instruction rather that the feel game Gilchrist teaches. After beginning work in December 2006 with Gilchrist, Pia Nilsson and Lynn Marriott, Pettersen won five times in 2007, including the McDonalds LPGA Championship. Pettersen has played well this year, but has yet to win, finishing second last week at the Wegman's LPGA in Rochester to Eun-Hee Ji.

Gilchrist has been big-footed more times than Sasquatch's sidewalk. In addition to losing Wie and Pettersen to Leadbetter, he was also pushed aside last year when Hank Haney was brought in to run the International Junior Golf Academy on Hilton Head Island. Gilchrist includes Julieta Granada among his current LPGA clients.

-- Ron Sirak

LA JOLLA, Calif. -- Maybe Angel Cabrera should go back to smoking. The burly Argentine who puffed his way to victory in last year's U.S. Open at Oakmont (Pa.) CC swore off nicotine a couple months ago and has seen his game go up in smoke. Witness the fat 79 he posted in Thursday's first round at Torrey Pines in this year?s national championship. And he needed a birdie, birdie finish to do that.

Cabrera hasn't done much of anything since his victory parade through the streets of Buenos Aires last June. His best 2008 finish on the European Tour is 12th at the HSBC Champions, while T-25 in the Masters is the best he could manage on this continent. Three times this year he has shot in the 80s, while going into the 60s only once.

Cabrera's defense of his U.S. Open title was over almost before it started as he bogeyed the first three holes and made par on only one of the first eight, turning the front nine in 43. With virtually no chance to make the cut, Cabrera will be going home early for the fifth time in his last seven PGA Tour starts.

"I'm feeling much better now that I don't smoke," Cabrera said early in the week at Torrey Pines. "But my life goes on whether I smoke or not, so I don't really care much about it. Everything is still the same, just without the smoking."

Certainly, those are the words Cabrera needs to say, and those are the ideas he needs to believe. In the long run, not smoking is an extremely wise move. In the short run, it appears to be a bumpy lifestyle transition.

Meanwhile Andres Romero, the 27-year-old hot-shot who finished T-8 in the Masters this year and won the Zurich Classic in New Orleans, might make his countrymen forget Cabrera. Romero posted a 71 and was three strokes off the lead shared by Kevin Streelman and Justin Hicks.

Not bad for a guy playing in his first U.S. Open. It's not, however, Romero's first flirtation with a greatness in a major championship. He closed with a 67 last year at Carnoustie to finish third in the British Open.

Cabrera returned to Argentina a national hero last year, bringing with him the U.S. Open trophy. That's not going to happen this year. If there is going to be another parade through Buenos Aires it will have to be Romero riding in the back seat of the limo.

For Cabrera, it looks like this U.S. Open will be not-even-close and certainly no cigar.

--Ron Sirak

LA JOLLA, Calif. -- Yani Tseng is a lot like many other 19-year-old female golf fans -- she giggles when she sees Adam Scott. The only difference between Tseng and those other groupies following the glam gang of Scott, Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson in the first round of the U.S. Open is that five days earlier she won a major championship of her own: the McDonald's LPGA Championship.

Tseng, a native of Taiwan who lives in Beaumont, Calif., a couple hours drive from Torrey Pines, was the guest of NBC commentator Dottie Pepper Thursday and got to walk inside the ropes as they followed the top three players in the World Ranking.

"I saw Tiger play in the Battle of the Bridges a couple years ago, but that's the only time," Tseng said as she arrived shortly after 7 a.m. with her father, Mao-Hsin Tseng, and U.S. sponsor Ernie Huang. "We had a huge party Tuesday at Oak Valley [her home course]. They closed the course and all the Chinese in the area played for free."

Wednesday night Tseng had a celebratory dinner at The Bridges that included former player and putting guru Dave Stockton, her coach Glenn Daugherty, Greg Rose of the Titleist Performance Institute and Hall of Fame player and commentator Judy Rankin. "It's amazing the attention," Tseng said. Then she was off to watch Scott -- oh yes, and Woods and Mickelson.

-- Ron Sirak

MT. PLEASANT, S.C. -- In all the talk about the wealth of talent on the LPGA right now there may be no player who gets short-changed more than Mickey Wright. Her 82 victories are second only to the 88 by Kathy Whitworth and her 13 major championships rank second only to the 15 by Patty Berg. What makes it all the more remarkable is that Wright pretty much stopped playing a full LPGA schedule at age 34.

In reporting Lorena Ochoa's withdrawal from the Ginn Tribute because of the death of her uncle earlier this week, I said she is trying to join Babe Zaharias and Pat Bradley as the only players to win three consecutive LPGA majors. In fact, if Ochoa wins the McDonald's LPGA Championship next week it would move her within one of a feat accomplished only by Tiger Woods -- and Mickey Wright: holding all four professional major trophies at the same time.

Woods turned the trick with the last three majors of 2000 and the first of 2001. Wright captured the U.S. Women's Open and the LPGA Championship in 1961 and then picked off the 1962 Titleholders Championship and the Western Open before Murle Lindstrom stopped the streak by winning the U.S. Women's Open.

Part of the reason Wright's major accomplishment has gone overlooked is because the LPGA has had seven different tournaments serve as majors during its 58-year history. Also, the order of the events designated as majors has varied at times.

Currently, the LPGA majors -- in order -- are: the Kraft Nabisco Championship, McDonald's LPGA Championship, U.S. Women's Open and Ricoh Women's British Open. The du Maurier Classic, the Western Open and the Titleholders Championship have also been majors at various times.

The Titleholders went away after 1966, returned for one year in 1972 and then disappeared for good. The Western Open went belly-up after 1967. There were years when the LPGA, which began in 1950, had as few as two majors. It has consistently had four since 1983 when the U.S. Women's Open, LPGA Championship, Kraft Nabisco and du Maurier were on board. The Women's British Open replaced the du Maurier in 2001.

To set the record straight -- which is important because this could be a record-setting year for Ochoa -- the only two players to sweep all the LPGA majors in a year were Babe Zaharias (1950, when there were only three) and Sandra Haynie (1974, one of 10 years in which there were only two majors).

Pat Bradley is the last player to win three LPGA majors in a single season (1986) and won three in a row over 1985-86. If you want to talk about domination, from 1958 through 1964, Wright won 12 of the 28 LPGA majors contested, capturing three in 1961, the year she started her run of four straight.

-- Ron Sirak

MT. PLEASANT, S.C. -- Lorena Ochoa, who withdrew from the Ginn Tribute at RiverTowne CC Tuesday when she learned her uncle was serious ill, said Thursday on her Website that Pedro Ochoa, brother of her father, Javier, had died at age 73 in Guadalajara, Mexico. No cause of death was given, although the Website said Pedro Ochoa had been sick for some time.

According to lorenaochoa.com, Ochoa will return next week at the McDonald's LPGA Championship, where she will try to win her second major championship of the year and third in a row. Only Babe Zaharias and Pat Bradley have won three consecutive LPGA majors. Ochoa, the No. 1 player in the Rolex Rankings, has won six times in nine starts this year and 2O times since April 15, 2006.

Suzann Pettersen is the defending champion at the McDonald's, which is played on Bulle Rock GC in Havre de Grace, Md. Ochoa finished T-6 at Bulle Rock last year, six strokes behind Pettersen.

--Ron Sirak

MT. PLEASANT, S.C. -- Lorena Ochoa, the No. 1 player in the Rolex Rankings, withdrew from the Ginn Tribute Hosted by Annika on Wednesday, citing her uncle's ill health. Ochoa, who has won six of her nine starts this year, practiced at RiverTowne CC Tuesday, then informed tournament officials she was returning to Mexico.

"I am very sorry to have to withdraw ... But my uncle is very ill," Ochoa said in a statement. "I need to be with my uncle and my family right now." She was replaced in the field by Eva Dahloff.

It's the second consecutive year the $2.6 million event -- the highest purse outside the U.S. Women's Open and the Evian Masters -- has been impacted by an unexpected event. Last year, Nicole Castrale's victory was overshadowed by "88-Gate" -- Michelle Wie's withdrawal after 16 holes, citing a sore wrist, after an LPGA official informed her agent she would be disqualified for the rest of the season if she failed to break 88. She was 14 over par at the time. Wie is playing a Ladies European Tour tournament in Germany this week.

"My thoughts and prayers are with Lorena and her family at this time," Sorenstam said. "She is a tremendous ambassador for our game and we will miss her this week."

Ochoa, who has played nine of the last 11 LPGA events, was fined $25,000 by the LPGA for skipping the Corning Classic last week under a rule that requires players to compete in each event at least once in a four-year cycle. Sources close to the situation said Ochoa's WD at the Ginn had nothing to do with the Corning fine, although the controversial rule is likely to be revisited at the end of this season. With eight titles to defend this year, three events in Mexico, three majors she didn't win in 2007 and big-money events like the Ginn, it is difficult for Ochoa to find a week to take off.

She is scheduled to play next week at the McDonald's LPGA Championship, the second major of the season. Ochoa won the Kraft Nabisco Championship in April and, having won the Ricoh Women's British Open last August, will be trying to join Babe Zaharias and Pat Bradley as the only two women in LPGA history to win three consecutive majors.

-- Ron Sirak

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- If Tiger Woods is to pull off his first-ever come-from-behind victory in the final round of a major championship, he is going to have to do it in spectacular style. The body language of Woods, who began play Sunday six strokes behind Trevor Immelman at the Masters, personified frustration as he fashioned an even-par 36 over the front nine at Augusta National GC and picked up no ground, although he did pass a fast-fading Paul Casey to move into fourth place.

Woods made one birdie and one bogey and, in perhaps the greatest indication that this might not be his day, failed to birdie either of the two par-5 holes on the front nine. When Nick Faldo came from six back Sunday to beat Greg Norman in the 1996 Masters he made birdies on all four par-5s, the only holes on which you can be really aggressive at Augusta National.

Immelman, meanwhile, rebounded from a shaky bogey on No. 1 with a spectacular second shot on No. 5 for a short birdie putt to get back to 11 under par, where he started the day. But he made a mistake off the tee on the par-5 eighth hole when he drove into a bunker, then three-putted for a bogey, finishing with a 37 on the front nine to fall to 10 under and a two-stroke lead over Steve Flesch.

Brandt Snedeker also bogeyed the first hole but more than made up for that blunder with a 45-foot eagle putt on No. 2. But he bogeyed three of the next five holes and the ninth to turn the front nine in 39 to be four shots off Immelman's pace. Casey, who started the day four strokes behind Immelman, followed a double bogey on No. 4 with four consecutive bogeys and posted an ugly 41 on the front nine to fall eight back at the turn.

-- Ron Sirak

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- Tiger Woods needed to put pressure on the four guys ahead of him going into the final round of the Masters by making a couple of quick birdies at Augusta National and intimidate that quartet into making mistakes. What he didn't need was to make mistakes of his own. But that is exactly what he did.

Woods failed to birdie the par-5 second hole, which was playing downwind and was very reachable, when his second shot found the greenside bunker. On the short par-4 third, Woods missed a 12-foot birdie try. But the real killer came on No. 4 when his tee shot on the par-3 found the bunker and then he missed a four-foot par save.

The bogey dropped Woods to four under par for the tournament, a half-dozen shots behind co-leaders Trevor Immelman and Brandt Snedeker. But with the wind whipping at 20 mph and threatening to blow even harder later in the day, combined with the fact none of the players ahead of him have ever really contended -- let alone won -- a major championship, Woods is far from out of it despite his slow start.

-- Ron Sirak

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- The massive live oak behind the Augusta National clubhouse was shedding seed pods at a ferocious rate, filling the air with pollen as its branches were buffeted by what was easily a two-club wind. At 2:05 p.m., Tiger Woods aimed his opening drive in the final round of the Masters down the left side of the fairway and the ball followed his eyes as he positioned his tee ball perfectly to attack the middle-right pin position.

But part of the brilliance of Augusta National is that the stately Georgia pines can mask the wind, and at times wall it out completely. Woods second shot slid slightly short and right of the hole, riding a wind the club meteorologist said was blowing at 15 to 20 mph out of the west-northwest when Woods teed off, meaning it was cutting left to right across the first fairway. Winds are supposed to peak at 25 to 30 mph later this afternoon.

Woods was able to putt from the fringe and got down in two for a par; playing partner Stewart Cink birdied to tie Woods at five under par, six strokes behind 54-hole leader Trevor Immelman.

--Ron Sirak

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- Can Tiger Woods come from six strokes behind on Sunday to win the Masters? Who better to ask than someone who was inside the ropes to witness one of the greatest comebacks -- and greatest collapses -- in major championship history.

"Absolutely," was the one word that jumped immediately from the mouth of Fanny Sunesson when asked on a brisk morning outside the Augusta National clubhouse if Woods could catch third-round leader Trevor Immelman. "I saw it done," she said in a reference to the 1996 come-from-behind victory by Nick Faldo with Sunesson as his caddie.

Faldo went head-to-head with Greg Norman that day, erased a six-stroke deficit by the 11th hole and eased to victory with a 67 while Norman was stumbling to a 78. "It's a shame that everyone remembers what Greg did that day and forgets Nick's round" she said. "He was brilliant. Tiger definitely has a chance today. The great thing about this golf course is that there are birdies and eagles out there, and there are also bogeys and double bogeys."

Sunesson works now for Henrik Stenson, a fellow Swede who started the final round 13 strokes back at two-over 218. Adding to the drama of the day is the forecast that by the time Woods tees off at 2:05 p.m., the wind will be gusting in the 25 to 30 mph range.

-- Ron Sirak

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- The hand-operated leader boards on the course at Augusta National are part of the wonderful tradition at the Masters. It always creates a buzz when a number changes, prompting cheers for a birdie and groans for a bogey. The deliberate pace with which the numbers changes deliciously builds the drama. And then there is the reaction when one name is taken down and a new one pops up.

Such was the case at 4:04 p.m. Saturday when shortly after a birdie putt on No. 10 found the bottom of the cup, the name "Woods" found its way onto the leader boards at three under par, sending a buzz of excitement rattling through the Georgia pines.  At the time, Tiger was five strokes behind Trevor Immelman and Brandt Snedeker. It was the first time Woods had been on the leader board since Thursday's first round.

-- Ron Sirak

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- One of the classic "Monty Python's Flying Circus" comedy sketches involved the "Ministry of Silly Walks," a delicious creation of John Cleese. What you have at Augusta National on a weekend morning of the Masters is about, oh, roughly a trillion people auditioning for a role in the bit. Let me tell you what it looks like here on a Saturday morning.

The parking lots open at 6 a.m. The gates open at 7 and patrons are allowed on the golf course at 8. So what you have between 7 and 8 is thousands of people waiting on the edge of the course in eager anticipation of claming a prime viewing spot. For the third round. The challenge is this: Running is prohibited at Augusta National.

So when the clock strikes 8 and the security forces indicate it is OK to venture forth, it looks a lot like the race-walking event in the Olympics has commenced. Everyone is hurrying as fast as they can move without running. It's one of the more comical sights you'll see at a sporting event this side of the New York Knicks trying to play defense.

By the way, it's a good thing running is not allowed here. As steep as the hills are--believe me, TV does not do this place justice--and as tight as they cut the fairways, people would be careening out of control and piling up in NASCAR-like heaps. Cue John Cleese, please.

--Ron Sirak

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- One of the fun things about walking with Rory Sabbatini is that it?s like watching TV only with the commentary provided by the player. The guy talks even when there is no one listening. Just ask Tiger Woods, who stopped listening to him some time ago.

On No. 7 Friday at Augusta National, the South African pull-hooked his tee shot into the trees and -- faced with no real option to advance it very far into his own fairway -- played his second shot even farther left, onto the third tee.

Now that?s a shot no caddie has in his yardage book, so Sabbitini paced off the 41 yards needed to carry a greenside bunker. The hole was only 15 feet beyond.

?Ah, too hard,? he said as soon as the ball left the clubface. ?Come back!?

When the ball ended up 25 feet past the hole he switched from entreaty to explanation.

?No benefit leaving it short,? Sabbatini said, carrying on his inner monologue in an outside voice. ?All you do is make double bogey.?

The South African escaped with a bogey, but that triggered a run of four bogeys in six holes that put Sabbatini -- who started this year's Masters by winning the Wednesday Par-3 Contest -- six over par with six hole to play in the second round and in danger of missing the cut.

No winner of the Par-3 Contest has ever gone on to win the Masters in the same year. It appears that jinx will last at least another year.

-- Ron Sirak

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- Thursday's first round at the Masters started with an hour fog delay and then got slower: rounds taking longer than five hours to complete, the last couple groups ending in the dimmest of light. Steve Flesch did not have any such problems Friday, getting into an early rhythm and riding it to a 67 to move into the weekend at five-under 139, three shots behind current leader Trevor Immelman.

"It was nice to get out early," Flesch said after a round highlighted by an eagle on the par-5 13th hole. "The greens were soft and one of the nicest things is the pace of play. After the first tee, we never saw the group in front of us." Flesch played with Craig Stadler and Johnson Wagner in the second group of the day behind the twosome of Todd Hamilton and Brian Bateman.

"Yesterday was a long day," said Flesch, who was in the middle of the pack Thursday, teeing off at 11:18. "When you have Craig Stadler in your group, you're not going to wait to hit shots." The key shot of the day for Flesch was a 3-iron from 234 yards on No. 13 to two feet for a tap-in eagle. He made a birdie on No. 15 when his 5-wood second shot from 237 yards came to rest just off the back of the green, and he chipped his third to tap-in range.

The pace of play did not especially help Wagner, who posted a 74 to finish at 146, but Stadler did have a five-stroke improvement with a 72 that put him at 149, with the cut looking like it will be either 147 or 148.

-- Ron Sirak

AUGUSTA, Ga. -? By the time Tiger Woods teed off at 1:56 on Friday he was already eight strokes behind Masters leader Trevor Immelman, there were 19 players between him and the top spot and the wind, mild all morning, was whipping the flags on top of the scoreboard along the first fairway. If this Grand Slam dream is not to die in the first major of the season, Woods has a lot of work to get done in the second round at Augusta National.

Woods spent much of his pre-round preparation time Friday on the practice green, much of it piling up frustration. Four consecutive times he putted the same eight-foot putt--all misses. He moved to the other side of the hole and tried two more from the same distance. Misses again. After rolling a few lag putts, clearly searching for feel, he returned to the eight-footers without much more success, missing three of four.

The intensity on Woods' face, the concentration in his eyes, was riveting. Something was amiss, he knew it and he was looking for an answer. Augusta National is all about the short stick and if he doesn't find some magic with his putter, this afternoon could be a frustrating one.

Woods took a deep breath and let it go with a cleansing sigh. He exchanged a wordless look with his caddie Steve Williams, who was wearing the white jumpsuit with the number 47 on it. Woods slapped Henrik Stenson (in the group behind Woods) on the back and headed for the first tee with the feeling very much in the air that he needs a round in the 60s today.

--Ron Sirak

AUGUSTA, Ga. -? There was no round below 68 on Thursday, a day with seemingly ideal scoring conditions--little wind and soft fairways. Compare that to the first round in 2001, when there were six rounds below 68, including a 65 by Chris DiMarco.

Since the lengthening of the course in 2002 there have been only five first-round scores below 68. There appear to be low scores available Friday--Steve Flesch has already shot a five-under 67, leader Trevor Immelman a 68 and Brandt Snedeker is three under for the day on the 18th hole.

But the days when a player can close with a 65 on Sunday the way Jack Nicklaus did when he won in 1986 might be gone. The lowest final-round score by a Masters winner since the changes in 2002 is 70, although DiMarco did shoot a 67 in 2005 before losing in a playoff to Tiger Woods.

--Ron Sirak

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- No matter what happens this week at the Masters, it already has been a lucrative venture for Angel Cabrera. John Solheim, the CEO of Karsten Manufacturing, the good folks who make PING clubs, was under the tree behind the clubhouse Tuesday afternoon waiting for Cabrera to finish his practice round so he could give one of his company's star players a little present that is part of PING's corporate tradition.

Solheim opened up a thick wooden box, took out a piece of fine fabric and carefully unfolded a gold putter head inscribed: "Angel Cabrera U.S. Open Champion 2007." Anyone who wins a major championship with a PING putter gets a gold replica of the model they used. In Cabrera's case it was an Anser Redwood.

A normal putter head weighs about 13 ounces, according to Solheim, but this gold version tips the scales at 18 ounces. Gold was selling at about $913 an ounce on Tuesday, so you do the math. And as Solheim pointed out, the price of golf was even higher when the head was cast, putting its value at near $18,000.

Sylvia Cabrera, the champ's wife, wasn't forgotten either. John Solheim gave her a gold chain with a tiny gold version of the Redwood putter head. Being the U.S. Open Champion is the gift that keeps on giving. As one agent said, "When you can be introduced as the U.S. Open champion it's like going from being Elton John to being Sir Elton John." The title puts you in a whole new league.

--Ron Sirak

SUPERSTITION MOUNTAIN, Ariz. -- Michelle Wie's withdrawal from this week's Safeway International because of a wrist injury disrupts her competition schedule built around a leave of absence from Stanford University's spring quarter. It likely also means she won't return to competition until the second week of May, according to those close to the situation.

According to Wie's managers at the William Morris Agency, Wie aggravated the left wrist she injured while running last year while practicing at Stanford earlier this month. Apparently, she was practicing shots out of the rough, where she spent much of 2007, and on one shot there was a ball embedded under the ball she was hitting, causing the injury.

Wie left Stanford last week to try to play as many events as possible before the fall quarter begins in late September. She is not eligible for next week's Kraft Nabisco Championship, has no gate power in Mexico for the Corona Championship the following week and so annoyed the Bobby Ginn people when she unleashed "88-Gate" on them at last year's Ginn Tribute that she won't be invited to the Ginn Open in three weeks.

Sources familiar with the situation say Wie has been invited to the Michelob ULTRA Open May 8-11 and will play there. There are two events between the Ginn and Michelob, but the sources say the Wie camp is willing to be more conservative this year and not try to rush her back from the injury as they did in 2007.

Wie's absence at Superstition Mountain will have no impact on this year's attendance at the Safeway International. Record crowds jammed the course last year without Wie and organizers expect more of the same in what players are hoping will not be the last year for the tournament. Safeway has announced it will not be back as sponsor next year, opting to focus its golf spending on the Safeway Classic in Portland, Ore., in August.

Losing the Safeway International would be a serious blow for the LPGA. The bar has been set very high here both in terms of the quality of the course and the way the players are treated. All of the top 75 from the 2007 money list are in the field this week, a clear demonstration of the popularity of the event. If anyone is even remotely interested in sponsoring an LPGA event, this is the one to jump on: Great venue, golf-crazy community and a spot on the schedule the week before the first major of the year. What's not to like?

--Ron Sirak

SCOTTSDALE -- Most of the "Rwanda Six"--the group of LPGA pros who traveled to the tiny African nation on a humanitarian mission involving AIDS orphans--had a reunion Monday at Desert Highland Golf Club in a fund-raising clinic for Golf Fore Africa, the charity started by Hall-of-Famer Betsy King. King was joined at the clinic by Juli Inkster, Reilley Rankin, Katherine Hull and teaching pro Wendy Poscillico--all of whom went to Rwanda last October--as well as by Pat Hurst and Angela Stanford. Renee Powell, who also made the trip to Rwanda, was unable to attend because of recent knee surgery.

As always, Inkster steals the show when handed a live microphone. When introduced as a member of the 2007 U.S. Solheim Cup team she was quick to add: "The winning U.S. Solheim Cup team," coating the word winning with a ton of emphasis. Asked about the spirit of the competition, in which the Americans won on the road for just the second time, Inkster said: "It's not how you play the game, it's whether you win or lose. That was our team-room motto."

When asked during a question-and-answer session about how she gets back on track when things go awry during a round, Inkster said she takes out an 8-iron and tries to make small swings to get her rhythm back. Then she said, "The key to getting back on track is to put the bad things that have just happened out of your mind. No one was better at that than Nancy Lopez. But we just think Nancy didn't remember the past."

Inkster had a fascinating explanation of her warm-up routine that displayed how individual a golf game is. "I'm a feel player," Inkster said. "My swing is based on tempo and timing. So I hit a lot of short irons in my warm-up. I may only hit two or three drivers. I figure if I set my timing with my short irons the rest will follow. Also, the wedges are your scoring clubs, don't ever forget that."

Hurst is another feel player and when she was asked if she plays a fade or a draw she answered, "It depends on the day. I just play whatever I have that day." Hull also gave a great tip when she talked about laying up to a comfortable distance on par-5 holes you can't reach in two. "Most club players just bang away on the second shot and leave an awkward distance for their third shot. My sand wedge is my 85-yard club. I love that distance and that's what I lay up to if I can't get there in two."

Asked, on a scale of 1 to 10 how nervous they would be in certain situations, Inkster shouted out "zero" when a practice round was thrown out. Hurst, Stanford, King and Inkster have played in the Solheim Cup and agree it's the most nervous they've ever been. Then Inkster was asked how nervous she'd be on the final hole of the U.S. Women's Open if she was paired with Annika Sorenstam and they were tied for the lead. Always the competitor, Inkster stared as if she were imagining the situation and said, "I'd be nervous." Then, after a perfectly timed pause, she added, "But I'd bring her down."

Among those watching the clinic was Cheyenne Woods, the niece of Tiger who'll be heading to Wake Forest in the fall on a golf scholarship. In less than a year of existence, Golf Fore Africa has raised more than $200,000 to help the village of Mudasomwa in Rwanda.

--Ron Sirak

Michelle Wie, whose return to competitive golf after a dismal, injury-plagued 2007 season resulted in a last-place finish at the LPGA Tour's Fields Open on her home course at Ko-Olina Golf Club last month, withdrew March 21 from next week's Safeway International, citing an injured left wrist.

"I am extremely disappointed to miss the 2008 Safeway International," Wie said in a statement released through the William Morris Agency. "I'm so grateful to [tournament director] Tom Maletis and the entire tournament staff for offering me this great opportunity and hope to be back again next year." Wie, who was to play the Safeway on a sponsor's exemption, first hurt the wrist when she fell while running a year ago.

According to WMA, Wie reinjured the wrist when she hit a ball embedded in a thick rough at the range at Stanford March 13. She immediately consulted a doctor at Stanford, where she began her freshman year last September, and saw a hand specialist in Los Angeles March 17. X-rays, an MRI and a CAT Scan did not show any major injury. Her doctor diagnosed it as a sprain.

Wie played one PGA Tour event and eight LPGA tournaments in 2007, missing four cuts, withdrawing twice and finishing last or next-to-the-last in the three tournaments in which she completed 72 holes. Based on her play last year, and because she is not a member of the LPGA, Wie is not currently qualified for any of the major championships.

--Ron Sirak

The WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship was not only a victory for Tiger
Woods, it was a win for the Golf Channel. The three days GC had exclusive
coverage of the event --  Wednesday through Friday --  the broadcast scored the
highest cumulative ratings for those days in the history of the Match Play,
and the Friday 2.0 was the best number scored by GC since it started its
15-year exclusive cable deal with the PGA Tour in 2007. The previous best
rating for GC was 1.7 for the Friday coverage of both last year?s Match Play
and the Tour Championship.

Wednesday at Dove Mountain, when Woods rallied from 3-down with five to play
against J.B. Holmes, pulled a 1.3 rating, with Thursday getting a 1.7 and
Friday, when Woods needed 20 holes to defeat Aaron Baddeley, garnering the
2.0. The numbers far exceeded the slightly more than 0.7 average rating the
network has been getting this year for PGA Tour events. The GC also scored
with its weekend lead-in coverage to the NBC broadcast, getting a 1.2 on
Saturday and a 1.7 on Sunday. The GC ratings include the audiences of both
the live coverage and the prime-time replay, but the weekend numbers were
particularly strong since they reflected only the live broadcast.

According to the Golf Channel, its previous best this season was at the
Buick Invitational, also won by Woods, which had a 1.1 on Thursday and a 1.5
on Friday. The AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am scored a 0.8 and a 0.9,
while the FBR Open had a 0.7 and a 1.0. Each Nielsen Media Ratings point
represents 750,000 million homes for the Golf Channel.

NBC's final-round coverage earned a 3.5 overnight rating, an increase of 67
percent from last year (2.1) and was the best final-round overnight for the
event since 2004, when Woods also won. Saturday's semifinal coverage on NBC
earned a 3.2, 88% higher than last year (1.7/) and also the best Saturday
overnight since 2004. Each ratings points represents 1.1 million homes for
NBC.

-- Ron Sirak

KAHUKU, Hawaii -- Let's go back to Leilei's Bar. Let's go back to Tuesday night. Let's revisit the conversation Kelli Kuehne had with Beth Daniel when she told the captain of the 2009 U.S. Solheim Cup team, "I'm going to be playing for you next year." And let's listen once again to the words of Cristie Kerr that night when she said, "Kelli is going to have a big year. Trust me." The leader board after one round of the SBS Open makes those words look like more than mere barroom boasts.

Kuehne and Kerr, friends since their days in junior golf when they were 12 years old and fresh from a ski vacation along with Kerr's husband, Erik Stevens, looked like world-class seers after Kelli took advantage of a morning tee time and benign wind to post a five-under-par 67. With only 36 holes left in the three-round tournament, Kuehne has positioned herself nicely to be in the hunt for the Saturday finish on the north shore of Oahu.

For one day anyway Kuehne stole the spotlight from the glamour threesome of Annika Sorenstam, Natalie Gulbis and defending SBS Open champion Paula Creamer. Sorenstam, sabotaged by a balky putter, and Creamer finished at two-under-par 70, three strokes behind Kuehne. Gulbis struggled to a 73. All three get the advantage of playing in the morning on Friday, when the wind is usually calm, while Kuhne takes on the Palmer Course in the more blustery afternoon.

If Kuehne is to make a serious run here, and if she was near her TV set Thursday afternoon after finishing her round, she got a sense of what it is going to take. Sorenstam and Creamer both shot under par despite each making a double bogey on No. 17 to squander an opportunity after both snaked in long birdie putts on No. 16 to creep within two shots of Kuehn'e lead. Both got back one stroke when they made birdies on the final hole.

Sorenstam's round was sort of a synopsis of her injury-plagued 2007 season. Every time she got some momentum going she would make a mistake. She started her round with a birdie on No. 1 but followed that with a three-putt on the second hole for a bogey, missing from three feet. The double bogey on No. 17 was set up by a drive into the fairway bunker on the par-4 hole, and then a blunder with her wedge when she chipped from a swale to a short-side pin only to watch the ball roll back to her feet.

While Kuehne got a break Thursday with the late-round mistakes by Sorenstam and Creamer, she can pretty much count on the fact that both will make a run at her in Friday's second round. There is a real electricity when Sorenswtam and Creamer play against each other, a rivalry hatched in 2005 when Creamer, then a 19-year-old rookie, challenged the best the world's No. 1 on a rules issue. They'll play in the same threesome again on Friday.

While Sorenstam is trying to bounce back from her ruptured disc demolished 2007 season and Creamer is trying to build on a three-year career in which she has already won four LPGA events, Kuehne is looking to become relevant again. Make no mistake about it, this is an important year for her. She fought her way onto the Solheim Cup team in 2002 and 2003, but there has not been a victory carved into her resume since the 1999 LPGA Corning Classic, the only win in her 10-year career. Much, much more was expected from the Kuehne and now, still only 30 years old, it could be that she is ready to fulfill her potential.

The feisty Texan has impressive bloodlines with her brother Hank, a pro, and h