Bader carries the day

Ko Olina Golf Club welcomed the LPGA back to Hawaii with blasts of wind in the inaugural LPGA Lotte Championship on Wednesday.

The LPGA’s best blasted back. So did Beth Bader.

The 38-year-old from Iowa shot 4-under-par 68 to bolt over a bunch of top-ranked golfers in the first round at Ko Olina Golf Club.

In a constant 20-mph wind, gusting to 30, there were twice as many scores in the 80s as in the 60s.

But Bader did not have a bogey until her final hole.

Three straight birdies allowed her to climb past top-ranked Yani Tseng, seventh-ranked Jiyai Shin, 14th-ranked Angela Stanford and Brittany Lang, ranked 38th. All are a shot back.

Stanford also bogeyed her last hole to fall out of a share of the lead. She won the last LPGA tournament played in Hawaii, overtaking Hawaii’s Michelle Wie to capture the 2009 SBS Open at Turtle Bay.

"Flying over, all those positive memories came flooding back," said Stanford, whose sixth LPGA win came earlier this year in Singapore. "I love Hawaii. I love being here. I love just the atmosphere, the people."

Apparently Bader has the same good karma. She has never won, or finished higher than fourth. Bader is ranked 401st in her 12th year on tour, and just passed the $1 million mark in career earnings last season.

She didn’t qualify for any of the first six events — Tseng won three — and hasn’t played a tour event in seven months.

But, in the middle of the Pacific Ocean and Ko Olina’s vicious winds, she was the one at the top of a remarkably top-heavy leaderboard, at least for a day.

"It feels good," she said. "Been a while since I’ve been here. Been a while since I actually teed it up in an event."

Bader was 5 under after 16 holes, needing just 19 putts in the process.

Early on, it looked like Tseng would be the one to catch, as she has been the last couple of years. The 23-year-old from Taiwan, named one of Time magazine’s "100 Most Influential People in the World" this week, has been ranked No. 1 the past 62 weeks.

She played the front nine in 4-under 32.

But she bogeyed the first two holes on the back and was relieved it wasn’t worse.

"On No. 12, I made a tough 12-footer for par," Tseng said. "I think that’s the big turning point for today. If I make another bogey, I don’t know what’s going to happen. But I save par there and make birdie the next hole, so it’s a good turn for me."

Stanford, 34, is from Texas and familiar with extreme golf — as in extremely windy — but that doesn’t mean she likes it.

"I don’t think anybody likes the wind," Stanford said. "I just know what to expect when it’s windy. I think my mind-set changes when it’s windy just because I grew up in it."
Lang, also from Texas, called it "crazy," but she was not complaining.

"I hit the ball fantastic," said Lang, still looking for her first LPGA win. "When you hit pure, solid shots, the wind does not affect it as much. I hit the ball really solid and gave myself a lot of chances and I putted really well with my new putter."

She needed just 24 putts.

Shin, who had just one bogey, needed 25. That would be nine fewer than Wie, who had a four-putt in her 78.

Ayaka Kaneko led the Hawaii foursome, rallying to shoot a 74. Qualifier Shayna Miyajima also shot 78 and Stephanie Kono 79.

Americans Brittany Lincicome and Cristie Kerr share sixth, at 70, with Norway’s Suzann Pettersen, Spain’s Elisa Serramia and South Korea’s Inbee Park and Sun Young Yoo. All are in the top 15 except for Park (36) and Serramia, an LPGA rookie ranked 690th.

Yoo is coming off a victory in the Kraft Nabisco Championship, the year’s first major. I.K. Kim, the woman she defeated in a playoff, shares 12th with six others at 71. That group includes Ai Miyazato and Karrie Webb.