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Heartbreak hole nine / Photo

Journal photo / John Freidah
Pat Hurst reacts after just missing her birdie putt on hole number nine.

Hole nine is a challenging par 4 that has seen a lot of bogeys today. It plays long at 436 yards -- longer than in 1995, when Tiger Woods played at Newport -- the green is at the top of a steep embankment and it plays tougher than any other green on the course, according to club pro Barry Westall.

Morgan Pressel was playing great golf when she reached the nine, tied for the lead at 2-under par. On her third shot, she nearly lofted a birdie put home from 95 yards, finishing just four feet from the hole. But she blew the next putt two feet passed the hole, then rimmed out, and ended up with a double-bogey to come back to par through nine holes.

In the next group, both Natalie Gulbis and Annika Sorenstam positioned themselves on the fringe, about 15 feet away from the green for Sorenstam and maybe 18 feet for Gulbis. Sorenstam played her third shot perfectly and ended up with a birdie to move to one under par through nine holes. She was the first player all day to come up with a birdie on the nine.

Gulbis, who came to the hole at 2-over par, was more tentative, and she ended up short of the hole. She did convert her putt for par. That put her in the minority; so far today, 63 out of 94 players have gone over par for the hole.

- Mike McDermott

Posted by Mike McDermott  at 4:21 PM | Permalink

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