Mizuno Classic
Kintetsu Kashikojima Country Club
Shima, shi, Mie, Japan
November 4, 2009

First-round interviews: Brittany Lang | Hee Young Park | Vicky Hurst | Bo Bae Song | Yani Tseng | Lorena Ochoa

First-round Notes

Mizuno Classic is underway.  The opening round of the 37th-playing of the Mizuno Classic is complete at Kintetsu Kashikojima Country Club, and 78 of the world's best golfers are playing for a share of the $1.4 million purse.  The field's 78 professionals include 43 LPGA players and 35 members of the LPGA of Japan (JLPGA).  Of the 43 LPGA professionals playing this week, 11 are ranked in the latest Rolex Rankings' top-25, including six from the top-10.  The 6,506-yard course in Shima-shi, Mie, Japan is hosting this week's event for the fourth consecutive year. 

Lang leads all after 18 holes.  Fourth-year LPGA Tour player Brittany Lang fired a 6-under-par 66 in the opening round of the Mizuno Classic, and is the leader after 18 holes.  On the par-5, 485-yard seventh hole, Lang used a 3-wood to record her seventh eagle of the season.  In addition to the eagle, Lang also scored five birdies and one bogey to equal her 6-under-par 66 (33-33) overall mark. 

The Texan is still looking for her first career victory on the LPGA Tour, but is getting close.  In 2009, Lang has five top-10 finishes, including a career-best tie for second at the Navistar LPGA Classic Presented by Monaco R.V.  Her other top-10 finishes this year came at the SBS Open at Turtle Bay (T7), Honda LPGA Thailand (T4), Corona Championship (T7) and last week's Hana Bank • KOLON Championship (T7).

One stroke behind the American leader is Japan's Nobuko Kizawa and Hee Young Park of South Korea.  Kizawa recorded six birdies and just one bogey for her 5-under-par 67 (33-34) day-one score.  Also at 5-under-par is Park (31-36=67), who recorded five birdies on the front nine alone (one, three, four, eight, nine), making the turn with a 31, while the back nine saw birdies on 11 and 16 and bogeys on 10 and 18.  In her second year on the LPGA Tour, the 22-year-old is also looking for her first career win.  This year, Park's highlights include a career-best tie for second at the Honda LPGA Thailand and a career-best finish at a major championship (T9) at the U.S. Women's Open. 

Defending champion shoots 69 in round one.  The 2009 Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year, Jiyai Shin, finished the opening round of the Mizuno Classic 3-under-par 69 (36-33).  The South Korean player will begin Saturday's second round at the Kintetsu Kashikojima Country Club three strokes back from the leader, Brittany Lang (33-33=66, -6), and is in search of her fourth LPGA victory of 2009.  Shin recorded birdies on holes three, 10, 11, 13 and 17, and gave up bogeys on nine and 18 to get to 3-under-par 69. 

With a successful title defense this week, the 21-year-old would become just the fourth player to win back-to-back in the 37-year history of the Mizuno Classic.  Others who have repeated include a pair of LPGA Tour and World Golf Halls of Famers, Betsy King (1992, 1993) and Annika Sorenstam (2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005).  Woo-Soon Ko won in 1994 and 1995, but both times as a non-member.

Having already claimed the Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year honor, Shin holds a slim lead in the Rolex Player of the Year standings as well.  Should Shin successfully win both year-end awards, she would become the first player to do so since Nancy Lopez in 1978.  Shin is also the current top-money winner in 2009 with more than $1.6 million in season earnings. 

Top-ranked Ochoa five strokes back.  The number one player in the Rolex Rankings, Lorena Ochoa, finished the first round of the Mizuno Classic 1-under-par 71 (35-36).  The Mexican player was even-par through the first seven holes, before birdying eight to go 1-under-par on the front.  On the back nine, Ochoa recorded a bogey on 13 and a birdie on 14 to end the day five strokes back from Brittany Lang (33-33=66, -6).  Ochoa has won three times this year (Honda LPGA Thailand, Corona Championship, Navistar LPGA Classic Presented by Monaco R.V.), and finished in the top-10 10 other times.  Ochoa last made the trip to Shima-shi, Mie, Japan, for the Mizuno Classic five years ago in 2004, where she finished tied for 39th. 

Homecoming for LPGA trio.  Of the 43 LPGA Tour members playing in this week's Mizuno Classic, three of them made the return to their homeland.  Ai Miyazato, Mika Miyazato and Momoko Ueda are three of the four Japanese players on the LPGA Tour in this week's field, and they hope to use the home-crowd to their advantage this week.  Ai Miyazato finished round one at Kintetsu Kashikojima Country Club at 3-under-par 69 (35-34) putting her in a 13-player tie for eighth.  She became a Rolex First-Time Winner earlier this year at the Evian Masters Presented by Société Générale.  Mika Miyzato is a 2009 LPGA Tour rookie, and turned in a 1-over-par 73 (36-37) on Friday's first round.  Ueda, who calls Kumamoto, Japan, home, had the best day among the three at 4-under-par 68 (35-33).  Ueda recorded six birdies and two bogeys in the opening round, and is just two strokes back from Brittany Lang (33-33=66, -6).  Ueda won the Mizuno Classic in 2007 as a non-member of the LPGA Tour. 

DNS.  Ji-Hee Lee and Hiromi Takesue did not start the Mizuno Classic. 

First-round interviews: Brittany Lang | Hee Young Park | Vicky Hurst | Bo Bae Song | Yani Tseng | Lorena Ochoa

Brittany Lang, 33-33=66, -6
Hole 10, 350-yard par 4:  birdie, 9-iron from 130 yards to 25 feet
Hole 11, 165-yard par 3:  birdie, 5-iron from 175 yards to 12 feet
Hole 17, 180-yard par 3:  birdie, 5-iron to 18 feet
Hole 2, 360-yard par 4:  birdie, 9-iron from 125 yards to one foot
Hole 5, 140-yard par 3:  birdie, 8-iron from 145 yards to 10 feet
Hole 7, 485-yard par 5:  eagle, 3-wood chipped in
Hole 8, 162-yard par 3:  bogey, 6-iron missed second shot, two-putt to five feet

JASON TAYLOR:  Brittany, thanks for coming in.  You had a great round today at 6-under-par 66, and you're the leader.  Can you talk about your day?
BRITTANY LANG:  I had a great day.  I played fantastic.  I hit it very solid and made a lot of putts.  I've worked really hard these last couple of months, so everything is falling into place. 

Q.  How was your practice this week?
BRITTANY LANG:  It was really good.  I played nine holes in practice on Tuesday and Thursday, then played in the pro-am on Wednesday.  I played fantastically. 

Q.  So you knew you were going to play well today?
BRITTANY LANG:  Well, you don't know, all you can do it practice hard.  I always play one ball in the practice rounds, and I try to score. 

Q.  Since when did you start using one ball for practicing?
BRITTANY LANG:  I don't remember when I started using it.  It was maybe my second year out on Tour, so maybe three years ago.  Yeah, because I wasn't really getting a lot out of the round, you just hit a bunch of shots.  This way you focus harder and it helps you. 

Q.  Can you talk about the two birdies you had on 10 and 11?
BRITTANY LANG:  Yeah, on 10, I hit a 9-iron to about 25 feet and made that putt.  It was like a knocked-down 9-iron.  And then I hit a 5-iron to about 12 feet and made that. 

Q.  What is your average driving distance?
BRITTANY LANG:  I'm not sure.  It's probably between 256-260, I would say.  I'm not exactly sure. 

Q.  In the practice days, the weather was cold and windy.  Today was almost perfect conditions.  Are you ok with the weather?
BRITTANY LANG:  Well, yesterday was pretty similar to today.  I mean, you take what you get.  If it's not the same, you just adapt. 

Q.  So far, how is your golf this season?
BRITTANY LANG:  I've had a very good year.  I've played a lot of really good golf.  I always play well this time of the year for some reason, so I just try to practice and have some fun.  This year I've had a great year.  I played on the Solheim Cup and we won, so that was a really big achievement.  So, I'm very happy with my year.

Q.  How do you want to play the rest of the year?
BRITTANY LANG:  Well, I want to have rounds like this, where I don't have many mistakes and I just keep putting myself in position to win.  It's going to happen sooner or later, so I just have to try to play my best everyday, and just have a lot of fun. 

Q.  People say that the number of tournaments will decrease next year.  How do you feel about that as a player?
BRITTANY LANG:  I don't really have a problem with it.  I know the economy was bad and we were catching the downfall of the economy, but it's not that bad.  You just play in more tournaments.  It's about the same as you would normally play, you just don't have to pick and choose.  It doesn't really affect me.  I'm just happy that we have tournaments to play in.

Hee Young Park, 31-36=67, -5

Q. How was your round today?
HEE YOUNG PARK:  I got two birdies in the front nine, but I couldn't play aggressively and ending up with even par. My irons were good in the back nine and it was easy for me to get birdies. I could play with confidence. The birdies on the last two holes build confidence for tomorrow.

Q. What is your impression of the course?
HEE YOUNG PARK:  I had an impression that the greens were fast. But the greens were in great shape and I think it was in a good condition for the players to play on.

Q. How do you want to play tomorrow?
HEE YOUNG PARK:  I want to be aggressive on par-5s and get as many birdies as possible.

Vicky Hurst, 34-34=68, -4

Q.  Vicky, great first round for you.  How was your day?
VICKY HURST:  I felt good overall.  I think at the beginning of the week, my swing didn't feel as good as it did last week, but I really used the practice round days to get my swing feeling back to normal.  Today I felt great out there.  I pretty much nailed the middle of the fairways and middle of the greens.  I had a couple birdies, a couple bad mistakes.  I think overall I stayed pretty consistent and just stayed calm the whole day.

Q.  What do you think of this golf course?
VICKY HURST:  I like the course a lot.  I think the set-up is really nice.  It is playing pretty fair, I think, for everyone.  I don't know I guess we'll see how the scores end up today.  You can go pretty low out here. 

Q.  After your nice start to the week, what, if anything, do you need to work on for the rest of the weekend?
VICKY HURST:  I think anything from today, a couple of my chip shots could have been better.  The greens have sped up a little bit, and I can work on my speed a little bit.  Other than that, just keep doing what I'm doing, stay relaxed, and start over again tomorrow. 

Bo Bae Song, 35-33=68, -4

Q. How was your round today?
BO BAE SONG:  It was OK. The greens were fast. Overall my shots were good. My shot got better after I made a long putt.

Q. What is your impression of the course?
BO BAE SONG:  Difficult. The greens were hard and fast. There was also a little wind today and that was difficult to read.

Q. Mizuno Classic is a US tour event. How do you feel about it?
BO BAE SONG:  It is not so different from the usual tournaments. I don't really have in mind that this is a US tour event. I am just going to do what I have to.

Q. If you win this week, you will get exempt for the US tour. How do you feel about it?
BO BAE SONG:  I am not thinking about it yet.

Q. How do you want to play tomorrow?
BO BAE SONG:  I had some mistakes on the greens, so I will do my best and try not to make those mistakes tomorrow.

Yani Tseng, 35-34=69, -3

Q.  Can you talk about your round?
YANI TSENG:  Well, I don't think I played very well today.  My putter doesn't work, and I couldn't get the speed right on the green.  I made one eagle today, but I feel like I can just be much, much better than the score I got.  There are two more days, and still in good position, so I can keep it up.

Q.  You think the putting is something you need to work on more?
YANI TSENG:  Yes, because of the speed.  I just couldn't get the speed right.  I feel like my speed was terrible.  So, yeah, I need to work on my putting for sure. 

Q.  How did the golf course play today?
YANI TSENG:  It was really good.  The wind was really calm today, so the ball doesn't roll that far when it's not windy.  The ball stopped really well.  The course is in great shape. 

Lorena Ochoa, 35-36=71, -1

Q.  Can you talk about your round?
LORENA OCHOA:  Well, it was a slow start.  I didn't make a birdie until the eighth hole.  When you just have two birdies, that's not enough.  So, you know, I think I need to strike my iron shots to be a little bit closer tomorrow, and hopefully I will have a better day tomorrow.

Q.  How do you think this course played?
LORENA OCHOA:  I think, you know, with the nice conditions, you should expect low scores and a lot of red numbers.  So, it was a beautiful day today. 

Q.  Other than your iron shots, what else needs to be worked on for the weekend?
LORENA OCHOA:  I just need to keep a rhythm and tomorrow have a better start.  And, just hope to take it from there.