Associated Press
Thursday, March 9

TUCSON, Ariz. -- Eagles had never come in pairs before for Cristie Kerr, especially on the same side of a golf course.

On Thursday, however, Kerr eagled two of the last seven holes. Using new irons, she holed out from the fairway on the last to open a two-shot after one round of the Welch's/Circle K Championship.

The 138-yard shot landed left and about 6 feet short of a difficult pin placement on the right side of the green, hopped once and rolled in for an eagle-2. Kerr pumped her fist a la Tiger Woods, embraced caddie Donna Earley and threw her 8-iron into the air.

"It's the kind of funky stuff that keeps happening to Donna and I," said Kerr, who eagled the last hole of a round in Hawaii three weeks ago. "I didn't know the green went that way. I was trying to hit it left, but not that far. It's one of those things, you aim away from the pin and end up hitting the hole.

"That's a psychology thing, though, because if you try to go at the pin, you'll hit it bad."

The dramatic finish on the 329-yard ninth hole, her finish after starting on the 10th tee, enabled Kerr to match her career-best round of 8-under-par 64.

It also put daylight between her and 1999 rookie of the year Mi Hyun Kim, who carded a 66.

Annika Sorenstam, Kristi Albers and Fiona Pike were three shots off the pace, with 10 players at 68.

A nine-player cluster at 69 included 1992 winner Brandie Burton, a former All-American at Arizona State who missed last season after having shoulder surgery in December 1998 and again last April.

Helen Alfredsson, who won here two years ago, was six shots behind after a 70, and two-time champion Donna Andrews shot 71. But Juli Inkster, who started her Hall of Fame run in Tucson last year by winning the first of her five titles, exceeded par with her 73.

Kerr worked out with two Ping I-3 irons for the first time Tuesday and ordered a set. They arrived about 11 a.m. Thursday -- 1½ hours before her tee time.

Kerr, whose best finish in three years on the LPGA Tour was fourth in Springfield, Ill., in 1998, used the unfamiliar clubs with uncanny accuracy from the start. Two of her five birdies in the first nine holes came after approach shots stopped 6 inches from the cup.

She went to 6-under on the 10th hole of her round by sinking a putt from the fringe, and got her first eagle two holes later with a more conventional two-shot approach to the 493-yard par-5, where her 3-wood approach shot landed 5 feet from the pin.

Kerr backed into a 6-under tie with Kim by bogeying the 12th and 17th holes before her master stroke at the finish. It was a performance that reminded her why she changed clubs.

"I wanted to improve my ball-striking performance and hit more greens," she said. "Sometimes the dispersion with my Callaways, and my distance control, were not the greatest. It's either I played really well or I played 'ack.' "

Kim had two birdies and two bogeys on the front nine, then birdied five of the last nine holes to take the early lead.

"My putting was good all morning," said Kim, who won twice last season. "I came back after three or four missed opportunities that were 5-footers. I felt good about my putting today. Until the last tournament all of the greens have been playing slow, but here they are much faster, and I like that."