Golf roundup: McPherson, Kim new leaders at Kraft Nabisco
Published 11:12 pm Friday, April 3, 2009
RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif. — The powerful desert wind that tore through the Coachella Valley on Friday blew a new set of players to the top of the leaderboard of the Kraft Nabisco Championship.
Kristy McPherson and Christina Kim teed off well before the wind started gusting and jumped into the lead at 6-under-par 138 at the halfway point of the LPGA Tour’s first major of the season. McPherson shot a 70, and Kim had a 69 at Mission Hills, where palm trees swayed and flags snapped in the breeze.
Cristie Kerr also teed off in the morning and shot a 68 to finish at 5 under. First-round leader Brittany Lincicome (74) was 4 under, and Jimin Kang (70) and Lindsey Wright (71) were 3 under. Top-ranked Lorena Ochoa was tied for 26th at 2 over after her second straight 73, while Michelle Wie had an 81 to finish at 8 over and make the cut by a stroke.
Shell Houston Open
HUMBLE, Texas — England’s Paul Casey shot a 2-under 70 for a share of the lead with Australians Geoff Ogilvy and John Senden at 8 under during the suspended second round of the Shell Houston Open.
Casey was one of only five players to complete two rounds Friday after high wind suspended play Thursday afternoon. The horns sounded at 7:43 p.m. Friday with 65 players on the course and 72 others scheduled to start their second rounds Saturday.
Ogilvy, the winner of the season-opening Mercedes-Benz and Accenture Match Play, played 14 holes in the second round, and Senden completed 10.
Local assistant pro Jephcott dies
Tragedy struck the local golfing community on Tuesday when Pete Jephcott, a former assistant pro at Everett’s Walter E. Hall Golf Course, died of a heart attack while working at Kingston’s White Horse Golf Club, where he was an assistant pro.
Jephcott, who was 47, was stricken while working the counter in the pro shop, said White Horse director of golf Bruce Christy. He was given CPR on the scene and was later transported by ambulance to a nearby hospital, where he died, Christy said.
Jephcott, who was living with his family in Kingston, had worked at Walter E. Hall from 2003-2005.
