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Lorena
Ochoa, of
Mexico
, tosses her golf ball in the air after making a bogey on the
seventh hole during the first round of the LPGA Tour Championship
golf tournament on Thursday in
Richmond
,
Texas
. Ochoa finished with a score of 6-under par 66.
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RICHMOND, Texas - Michelle Wie couldn't take
the pain one week after taking the spotlight at Lorena Ochoa's tournament.
Ochoa is back on center stage now, trying to
steal the player of the year honor away from Jiyai Shin at the LPGA Tour
Championship.
Wie withdrew from the season-ending event
Thursday because of a sprained left ankle, hours after Ochoa shot a 6-under
66 to take a one-shot lead over Reilley Rankin.
Ochoa is four shots ahead of Shin (70) on the
leaderboard, but the 21-year-old South Korean leads Ochoa by eight points
(156-148) in the race to become the tour's player of the year. To earn the
distinction for the fourth consecutive season, Ochoa must win this week or
finish no worse than third and hope Shin places out of the top 10.
"It's very important to get a good start
and give myself a good chance," Ochoa said. "That's all I was
trying to do."
The 20-year-old Wie, fresh off her first LPGA
Tour victory at Ochoa's tournament in Mexico, shot a 72 on Thursday. She
limped through her round on the gimpy ankle that she sprained during the
Solheim Cup in August. She went for treatment after Thursday's round and
withdrew about an hour later.
"I wanted to do everything I could do to
fight through the injury," Wie said in a statement. "It bothered
me last week in Mexico, but I was able to play through the pain. I realized
today that I wouldn't be able to continue to play through it."
Ochoa teed off in the morning, before the
wind picked up across the Houstonian Golf and Country Club.
Shin and Ochoa started on the back nine and
both were 2 under after three holes. Shin added birdies at Nos. 13 and 15 to
move to 4 under.
Both players bogeyed the difficult 17th, then
picked up birdies early on their second nines. Ochoa added birdies on Nos.
6, 8 and 9, capping her round with a 15-foot putt and a modest fist pump.
Shin bogeyed two of her last four holes as
the wind strengthened. She is trying to sweep the rookie and player awards.
Nancy Lopez is the only player to win both in the same season, accomplishing
the feat in 1978.
Shin and Ochoa also are in a virtual dead
heat for the Vare Trophy, given to the player with the season's lowest
scoring average.
"I played 2 under, which was not bad in
the wind," Shin said. "Lorena, she played really good, a 66. But
we still have three more rounds. I will just focus on my game and try my
best for three more days."
Rankin also teed off early and finished her
67 before the wind became a factor. The 30-year-old has missed seven cuts in
17 starts this season before matching her best round of the year on
Thursday.
"It was nothing spectacular,"
Rankin said. "I just tried to stay patient and not worry about how I
hit it. I'm just giving myself chances and not getting too frustrated."
Wie drew the largest galleries and she was 3
under through 12 holes. But her ankle gave way on several tee shots on the
back nine.
After pulling out of the tournament, Wie said
she wanted to take a careful approach to her injury.
"I want to make sure that I'm being
smart with it," she said. "I will return home to have it looked at
by my doctors and follow their advice for treatment."
The first round was suspended because of
darkness at 5:25 p.m., with four groups still on the course.
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