Associated Press
Thursday, May 25

CORNING, N.Y. -- The more trying the conditions became, the harder Mi Hyun Kim tried. And now the rest of the field in the LPGA Corning Classic will try to catch her.

	Mi Hyun Kim missed just one fairway during her round.

The 23-year-old Kim, last year's rookie of the year, overcame gusting wind and a soggy course Thursday with a masterful 7-under 65 to take the first-round lead by two strokes over Penny Hammel.

Another stroke back at 68 were Emilee Klein, Vicki Goetze-Ackerman, Dana Dormann, Pam Kometani and A.J. Eathorne.

Defending champion Kelli Kuehne had a 69 and was tied with Patti Liscio and Betsy King.

The only top-10 money-winners in the field weren't far behind. Sherri Steinhauer, seventh on the list, finished at 71, and Pat Hurst, the Electrolux winner two weeks ago who is sixth on the list, had an 72. Two-time Corning champion Rosie Jones, who lost to Kuehne by one stroke last year, also had a 72.

Kim, who won twice last season, birdied three par-5s and did not have a bogey as she moved to the top of the leaderboard for the second straight week. And she did so after ignoring pleas from her doctor to rest her injured left shoulder.

"I made one mistake today with the driver, but I recovered it well," said Kim, who had a 9-under 63 a week ago in the Firstar Classic. "I think that was the key. Days like today where the wind plays so much, it's better not to go for it. It's better, even if the distance is short, to just play safe."

Kim, who had three birdies in a row on the front nine as her father and mother fidgeted nervously in the gallery, figured the wind, which gusted to nearly 30 mph, would be a factor and had prepared for it.

"I hit a lot of punch shots on my practice rounds. I practiced them a lot," Kim said through a translator. "I like this course. I have a good feeling about it."

Rain drenched the 6,062-yard Corning Country Club course all week, and because of the soggy conditions, tournament officials put the lift-clean-and-place rule into effect. And it was a great help even though the wind had a drying effect as the day wore on.

"Even with the drying out, the mud's going to remain throughout the weekend," said Klein, who had four straight birdies on the front nine. "But being able to play it up and not have the mud on your ball helped. If you have mud on your ball, you don't know where it's going to fly."

Hammel, who has won four times in 15 years on tour, has been struggling since the death of her mother last fall. But she started superbly with four birdies on the front nine. A 35-foot birdie putt on the 412-yard, par-4 13th brought her within one shot of the lead, but she bogeyed the 304-yard, par-4 16th and then finished with two pars.

"It was a good start for me," said Hammel, who missed three straight cuts before finishing in a tie for 30th last week. "I just kept it in play. I could have birdied every hole on the front nine, but I'm pleased."

Dormann also flirted with the lead, moving to 5-under with a 25-foot eagle putt on No. 5, a 449-yard par-5. But she bogeyed No. 16 after her drive sailed into the left rough.

"I'm very pleased to start the week out well. I've been really struggling," said Dormann, who has won twice in nine years on tour. "Hopefully, this will get me on track for the rest of the year. I've been looking for a good round to get me going."

Tammie Green, the 1998 winner with a tournament-record 20-under 268, pulled out of the tournament Wednesday for personal reasons.