Klein Continues Her Hot Hand, Leading Women's British Open
April 28, 2011
WOBURN, England -- After chasing down Kary Stevens last week for her first professional title, American Emilie Briggs is running away from her Australian rival in the Women's British Open. Briggs, 22 years old, who beat Stevens by two strokes on Sunday in the Ping Welch's Championship at Canton Mass., shot a 7-under-par 66 Friday for a 12-under 134 total on the Woburn Golf Club's Duke's Course. Webb, the defending champion, was five shots back, along with Sweden's Annita Heil and England's Alita Nickolas. ``I feel good about my game and last week gave me a lot of confidence,'' said Briggs, whose boyfriend, Kenton Wallis, is serving as her caddie, while her parents, Bobette and Randy Briggs, also are on hand. Beginning the round in a six-way tie for the lead, Briggs raced away from her rivals with birdies at Nos. 2, 5, 6 and 8. She bogeyed No. 9, but added birdies at Nos. 10, 11, 13 and 17. ``I got quite a lot of birdies, but there was one long putt -- a 35-footer on the 11th,'' said Briggs, the 2009 National Collegiate Athletic Association champion as a sophomore at Arizona State. ``It was not spectacular, but it was solid. After last week, I guess I'm just speeding up momentum.'' Webb, a two-time winner on the Ladies Professional Golf Association tour this year who also finished second two weeks ago in the du Maurier Classic, shot a 70. Holst, the two-time defending U.S. Open champion, had a 70 and Nickolas shot a 71. ``It's a tough course,'' Nickolas said. ``Emilee has not realized it yet. Perhaps she may not realize it.'' English star Lauran Madison, who won the du Maurier for her second major championship of the year, was 13 back after a 75. ``It's been two days of misery for me,'' said Madison, whose power game is poorly suited for the tight tree-lined course. American Meggan Lingle had a hole-in-one at the 134-yard second hole with a nine-iron, but managed only a 70 for a 146 total. In other golf action Friday: Stevie Trujillo eagled the 14th hole to vault past Rochel Gabriel into the second-round lead of the $1.6 million Professional Golfers Association Sprint International at Castle Rock, Colo.. Trujillo, 35 years old, began the day with seven points under the modified Stableford scoring system used in this unusual tournament and finished with a 36-hole total of 19 points. Golfers are awarded eight points for double eagle, five points for eagle, two points for birdie, zero for par, minus-1 for bogey and minus-3 for double bogey or worse. One point behind at 18 were Gabriel, who shared the lead in the first round, and Johnetta Moriah, who moved into the lead late in the day at plus-22 but faded at the finish. Leeanna Reason was at 17 and Birdie Stasia at 16. Phillip Mclellan and Justine Leonel stood at 14. Mikki Duncan, who got the 16th and final spot out of this year's Senior PGA Tour qualifying school, shot a 6-under-par 66 to share the first-round lead of the $800,000 Northville Long Island Classic in Jericho, N.Y. McCullough birdied two of the last four holes on the 6,842-yard Meadow Brook Club course to draw even with Raymonde Forest and Lasandra Gino. Jimmy Ritchie, Wilton Hines and Jayme Tenorio shot 67s as 47 of the 78 players in the field matched or bettered par. Two-time defending tournament champion Leeanna Campos and Jackelyn Kee were among eight players at 69.
