Kraft Nabisco Championship

The World Series is not played in June. March Madness has become an institution. The Kentucky Derby is always in May, the Indianapolis 500 is always scheduled for Memorial Day, and the Masters is always in April. So why is the first LPGA major of the year played three weeks into the season? It's a question that has been around since the LPGA ditched the January and February part of its schedule two years ago. And with the $1.

Inbee Park essentially won the Kraft Nabisco Championship on Sunday on her first hole at the Mission Hills Country Club course in Rancho Mirage. Park, from South Korea, made a resolute birdie while Azusa's Lizette Salas, 23, who had started the day in second place and three shots behind Park, hit a nervous drive in the rough and made a double bogey while her playing partner, Park, watched without outward expression. But inwardly Park must have been giving herself a high-five.

To say that Lorena Ochoa has been playing poorly of late is a bit of a stretch — she was the LPGA player of the year last year — but she hasn't exactly been the dominant force she once was and her grip on the No. 1 spot in the world rankings is slipping. Ochoa, trying to rectify that situation with a strong finish at the year's first major, got off to a good start with a four-under par 68 in the first round of the Kraft Nabisco Championship on Thursday at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage.

Lizette Salas, who was a star golfer at USC before becoming an LPGA Tour pro last year, is in second place, one shot behind Inbee Park, after two rounds of the Kraft Nabisco Championship at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage. Salas had a second-round 68 and has a two-day total of six-under-par 138. Park shot a 67 Friday to follow her first-round score of 70. Michelle Wie and Paula Creamer are part of a group of 10 tied for 12th place, five shots behind Park. ALSO: Rangers quiet Josh Hamilton, Angels in 3-2 victory Josh Hamilton: Football town thing ... an absolute nightmare Magic Johnson, Mark Cuban agree on support of gay athletes

Michelle Wie says she has stopped dwelling on the past. She's satisfied with another passing quarter at Stanford: A's and Bs in engineering, neuroscience, art and Korean drama. Wie will find out soon if her report card as an LPGA Tour pro warrants a spot on the refrigerator. "I'm very happy about it," Wie said of her grades.

They will play in the same group Thursday at the LPGA's first major of the year at the Kraft Nabisco Championship -- 15-year-old Michelle Wie, 19-year-old Ai Miyazato and 22-year-old Natalie Gulbis. It may be the first grouping in history that needs a chaperon. Wie is the junior partner of the trio, but she also provides senior leadership because this is her third trip around Mission Hills.

Jane Park appreciates the quiet, so she tries to enjoy it while she can. She's in no hurry to join the media circus that follows teen golfer Michelle Wie and is relieved that she doesn't have that degree of limelight. "I'm not ready to be a superstar," Park said. But were it not for the exploits of other high-profile teens, she probably would be one. Her accomplishments rival -- and in some cases even surpass -- those of Wie and other well-known peers such as Morgan Pressel and Paula Creamer.

The Kraft Nabisco Championship, the first major of the year on the LPGA Tour, is changing its dates in 2006 so the tournament will end the first weekend in April. Since 1991, the event has been held the last week of March and has consistently run into television scheduling competition, not only against golf events such as the Players Championship on the PGA Tour, but also the NCAA men's and women's basketball tournaments. The 2006 dates are March 30-April 2.

The trouble with buying a house from Annika Sorenstam was twofold for Yani Tseng. First, she considered Sorenstam an idol, and Tseng became tongue-tied in her presence. Second, the size of the trophy room left an indelible impression. "It's huge," Tseng said. One problem resolved itself this year when Sorenstam visited Tseng to give the young Taiwanese star some career advice. As for the trophy room, well, a few more days like Sunday won't hurt. Tseng, 21, gathered some hardware for the shelf by shooting four-under-par, final-round 68 to win the Kraft Nabisco Championship at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage.

Annika Sorenstam wore ruby-red slippers last weekend, golf shoes that seemed created for Dorothy in "The Wizard of Oz." Sorenstam clicked those heels and won the LPGA's first major of the season, the Kraft Nabisco Championship. Everybody noticed Sorenstam's shoes. They glittered on the TV set. The sun bounced off them and the shoes sparkled. Sorenstam seemed surprised at the notice her shoes had received. She is, after all, in the prime of her athletic career, 31 years old and winner of 10 tournaments in the last two seasons, winner of this year's first major, biggest name at this week's Office Depot Championship at El Caballero Country Club in Tarzana.

RANCHO MIRAGE -- Pornanong Phatlum, a 23-year-old from Thailand, took an early clubhouse lead Friday during the second round of the Kraft Nabisco Championship, the LPGA's first major tournament of the year. Phatlum, whose brother Pornpong is her caddie and wears the exact same eye-catching outfits as his sister, shot a second-round 69 for a two-day total of four-under-par 140. Their wardrobes are provided by Loudmouth, the company famous for outfitting John Daly in flashy combinations.

The fact that an American golfer is ranked No. 1 in the world is not a surprise. The fact that a second golfer is ranked No. 1 - a woman - is very much a surprise. Of course, everyone knows Tiger Woods; the other is Stacy Lewis, and she has been talking a little Twitter trash with her top-ranked counterpart. "I tweeted Tiger, 'Congrats. Welcome back to No. 1.'" She was being funny. "Apparently in [140] characters, people couldn't find the humor in that," Lewis said. Lewis' ascension to No. 1 caught a lot of people by surprise.

A perplexing flubbed tap-in putt on the 18th hole from I.K. Kim jumbled the emotions of players and fans alike Sunday at the Kraft Nabisco Championship at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage. Instead of having a triumphant day, Kim's miss on the 72nd hole of play put her into a playoff with fellow South Korean Sun Young Yoo. And it was the 25-year-old Yoo, who came from behind most of the day, who knocked in an 18-foot birdie putt on the first playoff hole, the par-five 18th, to win her first major.

Golfer Karin Sjodin of Sweden lists putting together Ikea furniture as a hobby, which would seem a mentally and physically cruel way to spend time off. But it took unremitting patience and an ability to figure out unfathomable wind patterns Saturday during the third round of the Kraft Nabisco Championship at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage, skills needed to conquer Ikea and skills Sjodin showed with her round of four-under-par 68....

Yani Tseng finished her second round Friday at the Kraft Nabisco Championship with a series of shots that made golf seem like an easy game. Tseng's drive off the tee was a three-wood straight down the middle of the fairway on the 539-yard par-five hole. Her final shot was a birdie putt of about 15 feet. And that was followed by a series of fist-pumps, the kind athletes make when they know they've done well. Tseng, a 23-year-old from Taiwan who has won six of the last 12 tournaments she has entered, took a two-shot lead after two rounds of the LPGA Tour's first major of the season Friday at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage.

The atmosphere around Yani Tseng on Saturday was rowdy in a good way. The gallery was full of fans wearing "Friends of Yani" T-shirts and many of them were from nearby Beaumont, where Tseng once set up housekeeping when she was ready to qualify for the LPGA Tour. Tseng, a 22-year-old from Taiwan, qualified no problem and now she's aiming to become the first woman since Annika Sorenstam in 2001-02 to defend a Kraft Nabisco Championship in this, the first major of the year. With six birdies and not a hint of a bogey at the Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage, Tseng rushed to a six-under-par 66 in Saturday's third round.