Thu May 8 19:53:55 2008

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McKay leads at Kingsmill; Sorenstam, Ochoa lurking

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Williamsburg, VA (Sports Network) - Mhairi McKay fired an eight-under-par 63 Thursday to take the lead after the opening round of the Michelob ULTRA Open at Kingsmill.

McKay, who is winless on the LPGA Tour, tied the course record with her 63. Three other players have shot 63 here. However, she has some big names lurking.

World No. 2 Annika Sorenstam has won twice this season. She is one stroke behind McKay at minus-seven and is tied there with Sun Young Yoo.

Meanwhile, world No. 1 Lorena Ochoa is just two back at six-under 65 and shares fourth place with Diana D'Alessio on the River Course at Kingsmill Resort & Spa.

Further down the leaderboard, Michelle Wie returned to action for the first time since the Fields Open in Hawaii in February. Wie opened with a four-over 75 and she is tied for 126th in the 144-player field. She posted just one birdie to go with five bogeys in her round.

McKay chipped her third to six feet to set up birdie at the third. Her approach hit the flag stick at the sixth and stopped eight feet from the hole.

The Scot drained that birdie putt to get to two-under. She followed with six- foot and two-foot birdie putts on seven and eight.

Around the turn, McKay poured in a 27-footer for birdie on the 11th to climb to five-under. She drained back-to-back 20-footers at 14 and 15, then closed with a five-foot birdie putt at the last to match the course record, as well as her career low.

"I feel great and I shot below my age on both nines," joked the 33-year-old McKay. "Maybe that should be my goal for the year."

Sorenstam also played the front nine first and also opened with a birdie on the third, where she chipped to four feet. Two holes later, she ran home a 30- foot birdie effort.

At the seventh, Sorenstam dropped a wedge to six feet and knocked that putt in for birdie. She came right back with a 35-foot birdie putt on eight to turn in minus-four.

Sorenstam sank her fifth birdie on the 10th from four feet out. After three straight pars, she converted an eight-footer for birdie on 14, then sank a 14- foot birdie putt on 17 to finish one back

"I'm thrilled with the round. I haven't shot this low all year so it feels good to get off to a good start here, a place that I really like a lot and haven't played so well," said Sorenstam, whose best finish here is a tie for sixth in 2003.

Yoo dropped in back-to-back birdies from the 14th to go with seven pars on her opening nine. On the front, she birdied two and three before dropping a shot at five. The South Korean ran off four straight birdies from the sixth to close out her round.

Ochoa got going with birdies on one and three, but she stumbled to a bogey on the fourth. She sank an eagle putt from just inside 20 feet at the seventh to move to minus-three.

Around the turn, Ochoa could not save par after missing the green at the 10th to slip to minus-two. She regained one stroke with a birdie on 11. Ochoa ran off three consecutive birdies from the 14th to end two behind the leader.

"It was a good day. I don't know why this course gives up low scores," Ochoa stated. "I was surprised to see that because the course is playing tough, but at the same time we're playing in the morning, the wind was never too hard and the greens were soft."

Stacy Prammanasudh leads a group in sixth place at five-under-par 66. She was joined there by Eun Hee Ji, Song-Hee Kim, Candie Kung, Janice Moodie, Hee Young Park.

Defending champion Suzann Pettersen opened with an even-par 71 and is tied for 74th.