France's Icher leads at wind-halted LPGA major, Ariya with one over
France's Karine Icher fired a five-under par 67 to seize the lead as Ariya Jutanugarn was one over after seven holes before high winds halted Thursday's opening round of the LPGA ANA Inspiration, the year's first major women's event.
Icher birdied three of four par-3 holes at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage to stand one stroke ahead of American Michelle Wie, the 2014 runner-up, and South Koreans Ryu So-Yeon, Park Sung-Hyun and teen amateur Seong Eun-Jeong.
The 38-year-old French standout has four wins on the Ladies European Tour, the most recent in 2005, and she has never won an LPGA event despite 43 career top-10 efforts over 14 years, her best in a major being a share of sixth at the 2005 US Women's Open.
"I'm probably the player with the most top 10s without winning, so I'm used to it," Icher said. "I'm going to keep focused and keep my game on and try to sink some putts, and we'll see from there."
Ariya who needs to win this week to claim the No 1 position from Lydia Ko (on the condition that Ko must finish below top four) committed a bogey on the 13 th hole for over with 11 more holes to finish on Friday. Thai No 2 Pornanong Phatlum was also one over after eight holes.
Teenage amateur Paphangkorn Tavatanakit and Moriya Jutanugarn were on an even par after 10 and for holes respectively.
There were 51 players still on the course when play was halted for severe wind, with the first round to resume Friday morning.
Icher birdied the par-5 second and ninth holes and answered her bogeys at the fourth and 16th holes with birdies on the next hole each time, taking only 27 putts.
"I'm an accurate player, so I just aim for the fairway and then for the green," Icher said. "I try to work on putting to put more putts in. That's the secret. If you have good putting, you score well."
Third-ranked Ryu, a runner-up last week, worked with coach Cameron McCormick on ball striking and it paid off with a 68.
"The one thing I really wanted to change is my ball has been starting to the left, so I really wanted to have a nice push draw, and it looks like that push draw is working right now," Ryu said.
"I know it sounds weird after I shot 68, but still my shot wasn't really sharp compared to the last few weeks. I really want to get the really sharp shot and hopefully have a really good round for the next three days."
LPGA rookie Park fired a bogey-free 68.
"This is my second time here, but usually this course is always good," Park said. "If I just play the way I play, I think the score will come out very well."
Seong opened her first major with back-to-back birdies and added a hole-in-one at the par-3 fifth, the first ace by an amateur in the event's history coming from 182 yards with a six-iron.
"I cannot see my ball, but my partner said, 'Oh, hole-in-one. Oh my God.' This is my second hole-in-one in tournament. That's why I'm really excited," Seong said.
"My hands shake a little bit. But I was just playing very well, and my hole-in-one today, that's a good memory."
