Suzann Pettersen leads LPGA Championship; Pressel, Sorenstam in contention
Released on = June 10, 2007, 5:08 am
Press Release Author = GolfPublisher Syndications
Industry = Media
Press Release Summary = Suzann Pettersen leads LPGA Championship. LPGA Tour news at WorldGolf.com
Press Release Body = Chris Baldwin, Senior Writer, Golf Publisher Syndications
HAVRE DE GRACE, Md. - Suzann Pettersen is hitting almost all her shots, but all anyone wants to do is talk about her mental game.
The Norwegian heads into the third round of the McDonald\'s LPGA Championship at Bulle Rock today with a one shot lead at 8-under-par, after a posting a 67 Friday under a scorching Maryland sun. Also bringing the heat is a packed field near the top of the leaderboard that includes Karrie Webb (7-under), Brittany Lincicome (6-under), Birdie Kim (6-under), Paula Creamer (5-under), Morgan Pressel (5-under), Annika Sorenstam (5-under) and Meena Lee (5-under).
The question many want to know here is whether Pettersen can shake off the memory of the LPGA Tour\'s first major of the year, the Kraft Nabisco Championship in early April, where she lost a four-shot lead on the back nine in the final round.
Well I forgot about that a long time ago,\" Pettersen said. And then she spent the next 20 minutes being asked to remember it.
\"I didn\'t look at [the Kraft Nabisco] as a collapse,\" she told reporters. \"I looked at it as what I can do different, what I can do stronger when I get to the next tournament and I\'m in the same situation. For me that\'s kind of how I took it.\"
Pettersen said her win last month at the Michelob Ultra Open helped her get over the Kraft Nabisco. \"I felt good about myself and I felt like I was ready to win when I won. Now I\'m just shoulders down, I\'m pretty relaxed and just try to hit good golf shots,\" she said.
Still, Pettersen will be asked about the Kraft Nabisco anytime she\'s hovering near the top of a leaderboard at a major, unless she finds a way to win one.
She is in nightly contact with her mental coaches, Pia Nilsson and Lynn Marriott, who are in Sweden. They have to be happy with Pettersen\'s performance here yesterday, which saw her card seven birdies, including ones on Nos. 15, 16 and 17 that capped off a 4-under 32 on a back nine. Pettersen needed 25 putts all day.
Has she seen the tape from the final round of the Kraft Nabisco, where she went bogey, double bogey, bogey on the last three holes? No, she said. Instead, Nilsson and Marriott and her swing coach, Gary Gilchrist, examined the horrors and gave her notes
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June 08, 2007 Any opinions expressed above are those of the writer and do not necessarily represent the views of the management.
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