NEWS

Kim grabs U.S. Women's Open lead as Lewis falters late on Day 2

By Eddie Pells
Published on
Kim grabs U.S. Women's Open lead as Lewis falters late on Day 2

Korea’s I.K. Kim held a two-shot lead in the U.S. Women’s Open when second-round play was suspended by darkness after a marathon day on Friday.

Kim had four holes left to play in her second round and was at 4 under. Stacy Lewis, who had led by as many as four shots earlier in the day, was tied for second at 2-under with Wendy Ward with two holes left.

Going for her second major of the year, Lewis made a bogey and double-bogey shortly after a 66-minute rain delay and her lead soon evaporated.

Related CoverageU.S. Open notebook  “We sat in a school bus,” Lewis said about how she spent the delay when the late-afternoon rain hit the Broadmoor. “It was 20 people in a little school bus. There was no place to go, you couldn’t do anything, it was hard to get loose again. Unfortunate the way it all worked out.”

The tournament has been interrupted by two afternoon thunderstorms, which has forced backup plans to be replaced by more backup plans.

Only 33 of the 156 players made it through their second round Friday and 66 never made it to their tee time.

Among those were amateur Amy Anderson, who played six holes early in the morning to close her first round and finished the day in the three-way tie for second at 2 under.

Another shot back is Paula Creamer, along with Karrie Webb, who is in a group of four at 1 under who hadn’t teed off.

Ryann O’Toole headed into the break one shot behind Lewis, but she also struggled on the restart. She made three bogeys over the next four holes to fall to even par.

O’Toole was tied for 10th with Angela Stanford, who was one of the fortunate few. She finished her round moments before play was stopped. She finished all 36 holes on Friday and will be lucky to play 18 holes Saturday.

“I feel better than I thought I would right now, but that might still be some of the adrenaline,” Stanford said. “I feel good because I’m finished.”

Seeking to complete the career Grand Slam, Yani Tseng couldn’t get going during her day of start-and-stop golf. She was 3 over par with two holes to play.

“I was just trying too hard,” Tseng said. “I’m trying to play well, trying to hit it close to the pin. Sometimes when you try harder, the worse you get.”

The last hour of Friday’s round felt more like a casual walk through the park at twilight than a major championship. The rain and lightning chased almost all the fans away and the players were playing in front of dozens of marshals, a few friends and family.

It was quite a different feel from earlier in the day, when players figured they’d be grinding through 36 holes on a typically difficult U.S. Open setup made tougher by the long days and the long course -- a record 7,034 yards.

Nobody was grinding better than Lewis, who became the first (and still only) player to reach 5 under this week with a birdie on the par-4 fifth hole. It seemed like days -- not hours -- had passed as she walked to the parking lot in the near darkness.

“It’s hard to sit in a bus for an hour, then go right back out there and play and get the intensity back,” Lewis said.

After a bogey on No. 14, Lewis fell out of the lead on 15 when she left a greenside bunker shot short of the putting surface, then needed three shots to get down from there. She pushed her tee shot on the par-3 16th short right into a bunker and pounded her club into the ground.