Kraft Nabisco Championship
Mission Hills Country Club
Rancho Mirage, Calif.
April 2, 2009

First-round interviews: Brittany Lincicome | Angela Stanford | Brittany Lang | Ji Young Oh | Michelle Wie | Lorena Ochoa

First-round notes

A major American start. The 38th edition of the Kraft Nabisco Championship is underway with a 6-under-par 66 leading the way. Brittany Lincicome – a 23-year-old two-time winner on the LPGA – took the early lead (33-33) by one stroke over past 2007 U.S. Solheim Cup teammate Angela Stanford (34-33), Texan Brittany Lang (31-36) and South Korean Ji Young Oh (33-34). Lincicome’s 66 is her first since the opening round of the 2007 Evian Masters where she carded rounds of 66-74-82-74 to finish tied for 49th. The mark is also the lowest first-round score at the Kraft Nabisco Championship since defending champion Lorena Ochoa fired a tournament-record 10-under-par 62 in the opening round of the 2006 event.

At stake for the 96-player field, which is comprised of players from 19 countries: a $300,000 winner’s check and the coveted title of major champion. The event is the first of four major championships on the LPGA Tour and boasts a $2 million purse.

Three tied for second after 18 holes. Angela Stanford (34-33) leads a trio of players at 5-under-par 67 following 18 holes at the Kraft Nabisco Championship. Stanford, whose best major championship finish came at the 2003 U.S. Women's Open, fought the rust off with an early bogey on hole 11, her second, but made birdie from 25 feet on hole 15 and reached the green in two on hole 18 before sinking a 20-foot eagle putt. The 31-year-old Texan added three birdies on the front-nine – her back nine – including birdie putts from 35 feet on holes seven and eight. Stanford has three top-10s in 29 major championship starts including a tie for 10th at the 2007 Kraft Nabisco Championship. The American is currently ranked sixth in the Rolex Rankings and second in the U.S. Solheim Cup points race.

The 2008 LPGA State Farm Classic champion Ji Young Oh (33-34) and Texan Brittany Lang (31-36) also carded 5-under-par 67’s on Thursday at Mission Hills Country Club. Oh had seven birdies and two bogies on the day, while Lang carded four birdies, one bogey and an eagle on the par-5 18th hole. Oh has two top-10 finishes in 14 events since becoming a Rolex First-Time Winner at the LPGA State Farm Classic last year. Lang finished in the top-nine of her final five events of 2008, then picked up where she left off with a tie for seventh at the 2009 SBS Open at Turtle Bay and a tie for fourth at the Honda LPGA Thailand. The 23-year-old is fourth in the U.S. Solheim Cup points race behind Paula Creamer, Stanford and Cristie Kerr.

Lee cards two eagles. Jee Young Lee carded two eagles during the first round of the Kraft Nabisco Championship, holing out to end both nines: the par-5, 534-yard ninth and the par-5, 485-yard 18th. They were her second and third eagles of the season – nearly halfway to the eight she carded in 2008. Lee (34-35) started off the round with a bogey on the second hole, followed by birdie on the sixth. The back nine found her carding a birdie on the 11th hole and bogey on holes 12 and 17, finishing tied for sixth at 3-under-par 69.

Earlier in the day, Ha Neul Kim, of the Korea LPGA (KLPGA), eagled the par-4, 380-yard fourth hole at Mission Hills Country Club on Thursday, using a 6-iron from 147 yards.

Pak up for Career Grand Slam. The LPGA Tour and World Golf Halls of Fame’s most recent inductee Se Ri Pak could be on her way to completing the LPGA Career Grand Slam – winning all four major championships. After the first round of the 2009 Kraft Nabisco Championship, Pak is tied for 18th at 1-under-par 71 (36-35), five strokes behind leader Brittany Lincicome (33-33=66, -6). With high winds forecasted for Friday’s second round, there is a chance for Pak to make up some ground. Should she win this week, she would be the seventh player in Tour history to accomplish the feat, joining active members – and fellow Hall of Famers – Juli Inkster and Karrie Webb.
Pak major championship wins
McDonald’s LPGA Championship
Presented by Coca-Cola 1998*, 2002, 2006
U.S. Women’s Open 1998
(RICOH) Women’s British Open 2002
*first LPGA Tour victory, rookie season

Pak’s finishes at the Kraft Nabisco Championship

1998 DNP
1999 T13
2000 T15
2001 T11
2002 T9
2003 T15
2004 T16
2005 T27
2006 T45
2007 T10
2008 T10

Joh, Munoz lead amateurs. Of the five amateurs in this week’s 96-player Kraft Nabisco Championship, collegiate standouts Tiffany Joh, a senior at the University of California, Los Angeles, and Azahara Munoz, a senior at Arizona State University, lead the way tied for 18th at 1-under-par 71. Joh (36-35) entered the event as the reigning U.S. Women’s Amateur Publinks Champion and 2008 Pac-10 Golfer of the year. She found herself grinding through the day with birdies on holes one, five, 10, 11 and 18 against bogeys on holes two, four, 15 and 17. Meanwhile, Munoz (36-35), who defeated Joh in a playoff for the 2008 NCAA Championship honors, was in the last group of the day off the 10th tee at 1:20 and stayed steady with a birdie on her second hole – hole 11 – and bogey on the par-4, hole 15, which was her only hiccup of the day. She returned to red numbers with a birdie on hole nine to close out the round.

WD: Leta Lindley withdrew during the first round of the Kraft Nabisco Championship bringing the field to 96 players.

First-round interviews: Brittany Lincicome | Angela Stanford | Brittany Lang | Ji Young Oh | Michelle Wie | Lorena Ochoa

Brittany Lincicome, 33-33=66 (-6)

Hole 10, 388-yard par 4: birdie – 8-foot putt
Hole 11, 495-yard par 5: birdie – 10-foot putt
Hole 14, 148-yard par 3: bogey – over green, missed 20-foot par putt
Hole 15, 387-yard par 4: birdie – 15-foot putt
Hole 18, 531/485-yard par 5: birdie – hybrid to 20 feet, 2-putt
Hole 1, 377-yard par 4: birdie – 8-foot putt
Hole 2, 517-yard par 5: birdie – 8-foot putt
Hole 3, 415-yard par 4: bogey – 3-putt from 25 feet
Hole 4, 380-yard par 4: birdie – 20-foot putt
Hole 5, 182-yard par 3: birdie – 12-foot putt

MIKE SCANLAN: Brittany, great round out there. You finished at 66, 6 under par. So you’re the clubhouse leader, and it has to feel really good right now to be in the lead at the Kraft Nabisco Championship. Just talk about your round.
BRITTANY LINCICOME: It was surreal, really. Ji (Young Oh), the girl I was playing with, it was like Match Play, nine holes straight. She would make a 30-footer for birdie and I would top it. I would make one and she would come on top of mine. So it was really just a fun day.

I was hitting the ball really well, keeping it in play, which has been a little bit of a struggle lately, and then putting, I was making almost everything I looked at unless was downhill and we were lagging, and the greens were getting fast towards the end. So it was fun to be in the leader circle and be here with you guys.

Q. Talk about the greens.
BRITTANY LINCICOME: The greens are really good. They're really, really pure. They're starting to get a lot quicker.
The putt on my last hole was straight down wind, down grain, and my caddie was sitting there, and we were just going to breathe on it and see what happens. They're getting pretty quick. They're holding pretty good actually.

Q. How difficult has it been since you won in 2007 to get through this stretch?
BRITTANY LINCICOME: It's been tough. I switched coaches. I just yesterday I'd already signed up to go to the Vision 54 school and I calculated yesterday, and I just needed one thought going into the next day four days. I’m going to Phoenix next weekend and work with them a little bit.

So just it's really getting out of my own way. If I hit a bad shot, it takes me five holes to recover and get it back to where I'm calmed down and relaxed enough to finally make another birdie. So I'm finally hitting it really good and thinking positive, which is really helping.

Q. What was your thought of the day?
BRITTANY LINCICOME: Today was just really breathing, trying to take a long, slow breath and stay relaxed, and if I felt like I hit a bad shot, I kind of went to, well not a happy place, like a positive spot, a pet or my fishing. Or my caddie, we would start singing, anything to keep my mind off the bad shot that I just hit.

Q. Have you felt improvement recently?
BRITTANY LINCICOME: Yeah. Last week I felt like I was hitting it really well. There was a little bit more open last week than this week. So you could kind of miss it a little bit more, but I felt like I really hit my driver well, and just worked on putting this week to get ready.

And Angela Stanford and I did quite a few putting drills to get ready, so (laughs) -- which really helped out today, so hopefully we're going to go do those in a minute.

Angela Stanford, 34-34=67 (-5)

Hole 11, 495-yard par 5: bogey – 3-putt from 15 feet on fringe
Hole 15, 387-yard par 4: birdie – 8-iron to 25 feet
Hole 18, 485-yard par 5: birdie – 7-wood to 20 feet
Hole 4, 380-yard par 4: birdie – 7-iron to 10 feet
Hole 7, 395-yard par 4: birdie – pitching wedge to 35 feet
Hole 8, 168-yard par 3: birdie – 5-iron to 35 feet

MIKE SCANLAN: All right, Angela. A very nice round today, 5-under-par 67. Pretty good way to start off the Kraft Nabisco Championship. I know you said you've had some trouble on your first rounds here before. What was different today?
ANGELA STANFORD: I think just the new found confidence. You know, I really spent some time talking to my caddie in the last few holes of my Pro Am yesterday and really just trying to be aware that it's a new year. It's a new team. Everything's new, and I tried really hard to go in to this morning thinking that.

Q. What's the key to you having more confidence this week than it was a year ago?
ANGELA STANFORD: Well, I believe I can hit certain shots, better shots.

I feel like I can spin the ball a little bit more, so the shots that this course calls for, I feel like I have the confidence to hit those shots, where in the past I didn't have maybe all the shots that I needed to play this golf course.

Q. Talk about the speed of the greens.
ANGELA STANFORD: It is pure. That's the good thing about pure, fast greens. If you can get it on line, it's going to roll out, and I think you'll make more putts on greens like these than bumpier greens.

So if you can get your speed down and you get the right line, the ball starts rolling at the hole and usually it doesn't miss.

So that's the good thing about those pure greens. They are kind of firm, and the wind is starting to pick up and apparently it's supposed to blow tomorrow, too. I think that's probably going to be the factor, the wind more so than the greens.

Q. Do you think it was an advantage to go low today when you know it might be windy tomorrow?
ANGELA STANFORD: Very much so. Yes. You know, you look at the weather and you try to go I mean I knew what it said on the forecast. I knew the weather tomorrow, and you think I'm going to go out and do well.

Doesn't always happen, but I think it's in the back of the ball player's mind just like it's going to rain tomorrow. It was in the back of my mind. I think any time on the front nine the wind wasn't blowing much. So kind of you're trying to take advantage of that.

Q. How important was it that you get that early everybody wants it early, but that early win to get some confidence in Hawaii?
ANGELA STANFORD: Yeah. You know, I think for me it kind of validated the end of last year.

I had a really busy off season, and it was short, but sometimes you don't know if it's just a streak in golf or if your game is really getting better, and I think the win in Hawaii made me feel like, okay, my game's getting better.

You know, it was a streak, and it was a great streak, but my game is getting better and better.

So it kind of validated my confidence in that area, in that respect.

Brittany Lang, 31-36=67 (-5)

Hole 12, 385-yard par 4: birdie – 9-iron to six feet
Hole 13, 405-yard par 4: birdie – 6-iron to four feet
Hole 16, 407/390-yard par 4: birdie – 8-iron to six feet
Hole 18, 485-yard par 5: eagle – hybrid to 20 feet
Hole 1, 377-yard par 4: birdie – 9-iron to 15 feet
Hole 4, 380-yard par 4: bogey – sand wedge onto green, two putts

MIKE SCANLAN: All right, Brittany, a really great round, 5 under par to start the Kraft Nabisco Championship, and you're obviously no stranger to the interview room in recent months. You've had a really good year so far. If you would, just take us through your day. What went right for you and how good do you feel about the round.
BRITTANY LANG: Yeah. I feel really good. I felt like I couldn't really do anything wrong. I didn't stay aggressive toward the end of the front nine, which was my back nine, so I was kind of disappointed with that.

But making the birdies and the eagles I felt like I couldn't do anything wrong, so I was really confident.

Q. At one point were you thinking maybe let's go real low or were you kind of content with where you were?
BRITTANY LANG: I was definitely happy with where I was. I was hitting well. I was confident. I knew I could shoot a really good score, and I didn't stay aggressive towards the end of that nine, so I was disappointed.

The last few holes I played really aggressively and didn't make any putts, got some good putts in. So that was good.

Q. Given that, is it important to get a good low number up there to start with?
BRITTANY LANG: Absolutely, yeah. It feels good. Just to play that round and have that confidence and play well, and to know that tomorrow's going to be difficult, for sure it feels good to post a good number.

Q. Angela Stanford was in here a couple minutes ago talking about her very good confidence these days. You must be pretty confident with what's going on given your results so far this year.
BRITTANY LANG: Yes. That was my number one goal this off season was to get confidence.

You know, I've always had a lot of talent, and I work extremely hard, so my goal was to gain confidence, and I'm doing that progressively.

Q. Given that are you a little surprised with the scoring where it is right now, or would you like to say you're shooting in the morning so you're going to post a good score?
BRITTANY LANG: Well, the greens are fast, so you don't have to make that big of a stroke. There's less room for error, you're going to make more putts, but tomorrow when it's really windy and the greens are that fast, it'll be trickier. But not when the greens are conditions like that. There's less room for error, there's little stroke and more putts will be made.

Ji Young Oh, 33-34=67 (-5)

Hole 11, 495-yard par 5: birdie – 52-degree wedge from 80 yards to one foot
Hole 14, 148-yard par 3: birdie – 8-iron to five feet
Hole 18, 485-yard par 5: birdie – 52-degree wedge from 90 yards to six feet
Hole 1, 377-yard par 4: birdie – 8-iron from 140 yards to 10 feet
Hole 2, 517-yard par 5: birdie – 9-iron from 130 yards to four feet
Hole 3, 415-yard par 4: bogey – chip from 20 yards short of the green to five feet, two putt
Hole 4, 380-yard par 4: birdie – 5-iron from 170 to eight feet
Hole 5, 182-yard par 3: birdie – 5-iron to nine feet
Hole 7, 395-yard par 4: bogey – chip from 16 yards to six feet, two putt

DANA GROSS RHODE: A 5 under par at a major championship, obviously you have to be pretty excited about that as a start.
JI YOUNG OH: Yeah. It's a very good start, I think. I really was calm, and I hit the fairways, and then I hit the green, too. So it was easy for me today.
And then, yeah, pretty exciting. And then today I played with Brittany Lincicome, and she really hits far the driver and then went sixty yards and seventy yards difference.
Yeah. So every hole, I'm more faster because I'm first. And then she scored well, too, and then she's a pretty good score, so it's pretty exciting.

Q. So you missed two greens and two fairways? For a major championship, what are your goals for this week? Are you confident that you can hang on and possibly win it?
JI YOUNG OH: I don't know. I don't know. It's a major. So I hope to win, but I'm just playing my focus (on my game). So I'm just playing. We'll see, the next three days more.

Q. So you won last year. What has your golf game been like since winning last year and what have you been working on this year?
JI YOUNG OH: This year is more I practice the short game and then chipping and the putter, and then really – yeah, just chipping, chipping and putting. So that's it.

Q. Yeah. What is the course like and what do you think that it's going to take to win on this course?
JI YOUNG OH: This course is really fast and long. And maybe tomorrow – everybody say the wind will start in the afternoon. I think just the wind and the faster greens.

Michelle Wie, 37-34=71 (-1)

Q. Michelle, three birdies, two bogeys today, 1 under, a good start for the first major championship of the year.
MICHELLE WIE: Yeah. For sure. I was a little shaky at the beginning, but I was able to calm myself, and I made some good shots, and I feel confident with that.

Q. Golf course in excellent shape. Greens are a little firm, but yet they will hold a shot, a good shot.
MICHELLE WIE: Yeah. For sure. I've never seen this golf course in better condition. They've done a great job here.

Q. Do you remember a round with so many six to eight foot putts?
MICHELLE WIE: I know. It's so odd, but thankfully they went in, and my stroke is good, so hopefully tomorrow it'll be for birdie.

Q. Talk about feeling the jitters. You've played in plenty of majors. What was different about this one that maybe caused some jitters?
MICHELLE WIE: Just back at this course. This is my first major in a while, and it was excitement, but just a little jittery, but I calmed it down pretty quickly.

Lorena Ochoa, 34-39=73 (+1)

Q. The back-nine probably didn't go the way you wanted today. What are your views on your opening round?
LORENA OCHOA: I got in trouble from the tee. When you're playing in a major championship, I'm not so good in the morning. I think it was a good way to start a couple under. And then I'm pretty upset that I didn't take advantage of that.
But that's the way it is. I finished one under par, and tomorrow should be a better day for me.

Q. When your driver's going a little wayward, are you thinking mechanics out there to try to fix it or?
LORENA OCHOA: No, no, no. I think more just freedom. I wasn't really quick with my hands today, just I didn't give myself enough time.

I think I was a little bit anxious, and so I'm going to go to the range and work a little bit on my rhythm and get a better feeling for tomorrow.

Q. Your drives were so good last week in Phoenix.
LORENA OCHOA: It was a little bit in the rough, and you're going to hit it where you are. (Laughs).

But yeah, for sure, it wasn't a good day for me today, so I'm going to, like I said, get a better feeling in the afternoon, and tomorrow that will be my goal just to hit more fairways and be in better position.

Q. When you look at the leader board and you see some people at 6 under, are you surprised at those low scores?
LORENA OCHOA: I think it's really good golf with the pin placement we had today, and I am surprised. I think three, 4 under is good, but I saw the 6's and that's very impressive.

So I play tomorrow in the afternoon. I'm just trying to stay positive and hopefully tomorrow make a few more birdies.