COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- One of the unique charms of the Broadmoor, in addition to its breathtaking views, is that it may be the only golf course where players are serenaded every 15 minutes by a set of Westminster Chimes. This melodious score against which the 66th U.S. Women's Open is being contested rings out from the Will Rogers Shrine of the Sun in the Cheyenne Mountains, nearly 2,000 feet above the Broadmoor, which itself is 6,230 feet above sea level.
The chimes mark the quarter hour and then greet the top of each hour with the appropriate number of gongs. Every two hours, the five-story tower that peers down upon the course erupts in a chime solo that rivals in length a Grateful Dead instrumental break on a day when their pharmacologist brought his "A" game. Seriously, anyone having trouble finding the rhythm of their swing need only go with the flow of the chimes.
On Friday, as the weather-delayed first round of the Women's Open resumed and the threesome of four-time major winner Yani Tseng, who's trying to complete the career Grand Slam, defending U.S. Women's Open champion Paula Creamer and U.S. Women's Amateur titleholder Danielle Kang hit the course a day late the appropriate tune would have been "A Whole Lotta Shakin' Going On" -- only change the words to a whole lot of grinding going on. This was a fight, and all three were impressively tough.
With Tseng struggling with her swing and her putting stroke, Creamer having trouble reading the greens and the 18-year-old Kang trying to prove she can play with the big girls, all three did an excellent of not letting their rounds get away from them. Creamer and Kang both finished at one-over-par 72 -- four strokes behind first-round leader Stacy Lewis -- while Tseng fought her way to a 73.
There was barely a breath of wind when the threesome teed off at 8:36 a.m. and the course was still slowed by Thursday's rain. This was probably as vulnerable as the course is going to be all week. But none of the three were anywhere near the top of their game. Still, they all did a great job of getting the most out of what they had on this particular day. And that is a key component of victory: Make your bad round not all that bad.
Kang got off fast and turned in one-under-par 35 but bogeyed No. 11 and double bogeyed No. 14. She appeared to be finally waking up to the fact she was in over her head. Then she proved that to be a false notion, playing the final four holes one-under par.
(Related: See outtakes of Creamer and her career timeline)
Creamer showed equally impressive grit. She turned in 36, bogeyed Nos. 11 and 12 then played the last six holes one-under par. "How that ball could not break a foot-and-a-half left," Creamer said to a familiar face as she walked off the 13th green after missing a birdie try. "You don't read these greens, you memorize them," she said, referring to the effect the mountains have on the break of the putts.
"I played pretty solid," Creamer said after the round. "I had several three putts, but I made several birdies also." The greens are deceptively fast when putting away from the mountain and deceptively slow when putting toward the mountain. Many of the side-hill putts break the opposite of the way your eyes tell you they do because of the effect of the mountain.
"You know, it's out there," Creamer said. "You can definitely shoot a good score. It's just eliminating those bogeys. I don't think I missed -- maybe one green I missed all day, but I just had some threeâ¿¿putts." She also saved disaster on several occasions by rolling in steel-nerved six-footers to save par.
Tseng, who had some loose swings with the driver and some tentative strokes with the putter, bogeyed two of the first five holes and was three-over par through 16 holes before making a birdie on the par-5 17th and a great up-and-down from 80 yards on the final hole after laying up short of the green from the fairway bunker.
(Related: Ron Sirak on Yani Tseng's rapid run at history)
"I just have to be patient; you're not gonna win it on first day," Tseng said after the first round, proving that even at the tender age of 22 she knows her way around a good cliché. "I kind of get used to the golf course, and then, you know, I just kind of got to go back in the afternoon. I was always very happy to get on the course and play on the course and try to beat the course, too."
There was dueling pink going on during the round as Creamer -- The Pink Panther -- was followed by a contingent of fans wearing the team colors. Meanwhile, Tseng was cheered by a large group carrying the flag of Taiwan while wearing pink shirts and waving a second pink flag with the words "Yani No. 1" and a smiley face.
As much of a grind as the first round was -- it took the threesome five hours and five minutes to play, well off the rather optimistic 4:42 goal the USGA was shooting for -- it was only the beginning. Tseng, Creamer and Kang finished at 1:41 p.m. and barely had time to eat and change shirts before going back for the second round at 2:51. There is still a lot of golf to play and Tseng, Creamer and even Kang finished the first round still very much in the hunt. And that is the point of the first round.
-- Ron Sirak
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