Thu Jul 10 20:07:55 2008

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Creamer fires a 60 at Jamie Farr

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Sylvania, OH (Sports Network) - Paula Creamer nearly joined Annika Sorenstam as the only LPGA players to fire the magical number of 59 on Thursday.

Instead, Creamer came up one short with a course-record, 11-under 60. It was clearly enough for a five-shot lead during the suspended first round of the Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic.

"I didn't know it was a par 71. I thought it was a par 72," admitted Creamer. "If I would have known that, who knows? We were all standing on the green, Kimmie (Mi Hyun Kim), was looking at me afterwards. Wow, that was unbelievable. What did we shoot here? 60. I didn't know. I didn't realize it."

Creamer became the fourth LPGA Tour player in history to shoot a 60. Meg Mallon, Jung Yeon Lee and Anna Acker-Macosko all shot 60s, but Sorenstam fired the record 59 at the 2001 Standard Register PING.

Creamer fired an eye-opening 27 on her second nine, the opening nine at Highland Meadows Golf Club. The 27 matched the LPGA Tour record for lowest raw score for nine holes.

"I was always in the zone," acknowledged Creamer, who broke Se Ri Pak's course record of 61 from 1998. "I never realized where I was at until the last couple of holes when I started to think about it a little bit."

Lightning in the area forced the suspension of play around 6:30 p.m. (et) Thursday. Twenty-one players who did not finish will be out at 7:15 a.m. Friday.

Creamer started on the 10th hole Thursday and made the first of many birdies. She holed an eight-footer there and followed three holes later with another eight-foot birdie putt.

After three consecutive pars, Creamer hit a pitching-wedge to six feet to set up birdie at 17. She closed her first nine with a 10-foot birdie putt at the par-five 18th.

It was the second nine where Creamer etched her name in the record books. She made only two pars -- at four and six -- and seven birdies later Creamer was looking at a 60.

At the first, Creamer hit a five-iron to nine feet and sank the birdie putt. She holed a long birdie putt at the second and made it three in a row with a 10-footer at No. 3.

The fourth led to a par, but Creamer hit an amazing rescue-club to inches from 188 yards out at the fifth. She tapped in and moved to eight-under for the championship.

Her last par came at six, and she narrowly missed a birdie try there. After that Creamer, coasted into the clubhouse.

At the par-five seventh, Creamer drove into the rough and laid up with a rescue-club. She then hit a nine-iron to four feet and drained the birdie putt.

Creamer hit an eight-iron to 15 feet to set up birdie at eight. She needed to hole a seven-iron from 137 yards for an eagle at No. 9 that would have given her the 59.

It did not happen, and in fact, Creamer made one of her most difficult putts of the round. She played almost five feet of break into her 20-footer and the putt fell for her lowest round on tour by four shots.

Aside from the missed opportunity at six, Creamer's most important missed putt came at the 11th, her second hole on Thursday. She had a five-footer uphill for birdie and the ball stayed above ground.

Not that she's really complaining.

"There was definitely shots out there," said Creamer, who admitted some fatigue after trailing by one shot with one round to go two weeks ago at the U.S. Women's Open, where she shot a 78 in the final round for a tie for sixth. "But we will take 60."

Eun-Hee Ji and Gloria Park are knotted in second place at six-under 65. Eva Dahllof and Young Kim share fourth at minus-five.

H.J. Choi, Diana D'Alessio and Moira Dunn are tied for sixth at four-under 67.

Pak, who owns five wins at this event, shot a three-under 68 and is part of a large group tied for ninth place.