By Leonard Shapiro
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, June 27, 2008

EDINA, Minn., June 26 -- If 18-year-old amateur María José Uribe was at all intimidated by playing with Lorena Ochoa, the No. 1 player in the world, and Cristie Kerr, the defending U.S. Women's Open champion, she surely could have fooled the hordes of enthusiastic golf fans who lined the rolling fairways at Interlachen Country Club on Thursday to watch her upstage her far more decorated playing companions.

A native of Colombia and the reigning U.S. Women's Amateur champion, Uribe had a run of three straight birdies in the middle of her morning round and nearly eagled her final hole before settling for a 4-under-par 69 and a tie for fourth after the opening 18 holes of the 63rd U.S. Women's Open.

By day's end, the rising sophomore at UCLA was only two shots off the lead of 6-under 67 posted in the morning by 19-year-old South Korean Ji Young Oh and matched later in the afternoon session by American Pat Hurst, the Open runner-up in 2006 when she lost an 18-hole playoff to Annika Sorenstam at Newport Country Club in Rhode Island. Another 19-year-old South Korean, Song-Hee Kim, was one shot back in third place with a 68.

Uribe has the flashy look, the confident sound and the celebratory fury of a future star in a game already deep with fabulous young players. She has a short, compact swing, an unusual crouching putting style and an exuberant fist pump every time she makes a birdie or par-saving putt.

Uribe said Ochoa and Tiger Woods were the players she admired most, and she got an up-close look at Ochoa all day. The 26-year-old hero of Mexico has won two of the last three majors and needed three birdies in her final five holes to salvage an even-par 73. She said afterward she was extremely impressed after playing with Uribe for the first time.

"I like the aggressiveness," Ochoa said. "She's not afraid, and that's important. And then she was playing just like a college tournament, and it's very impressive to see. It was very nice and easy to watch her play. She seemed very relaxed. I'm sure she will be here in the future."

The same could not be said about the very immediate future for another 18-year-old, at least not this week. Michelle Wie came to the 413-yard ninth hole at only 1 over but hacked out a quintuple-bogey nine on the way to an 8-over 81. She'll likely need to post a second-round score in the 60s to survive the cut Friday.

Wie's nightmarish ninth began with a pushed tee shot into the deep right rough. Her second punch-out went back across the fairway and came to rest in the left rough. Her third to an elevated green ran through the putting surface and into more deep grass, and she mis-hit her fourth shot with a duffer's lunge, moving the ball about a yard.

The treacherous ninth green slopes downhill from the back, and Wie's fifth shot with a putter rolled past the flag and kept going off the putting surface. A delicate chip back up the hill with her sixth landed in the sloping front portion of the green, but rolled back down to her feet. She got her seventh shot chip within six feet of the cup, then missed her putt for an eight.

"Nine was a blur," Wie said afterward. "I had trouble counting how many strokes I had. It was just one bad hole, and it's a U.S. Open. It will bite you in the butt. It's a tough green. . . . It looks like a Pringle potato chip. I just left myself in the one place I shouldn't have left myself [after her third shot behind the green]. But you're dead. I had a couple of bad lies. It was just unlucky. I'll just have to shoot a low score tomorrow."

There were plenty of low scores Thursday on a 6,789-yard Donald Ross course that is the longest in Open history and features five par 5s. With lush, firm fairways, greens just soft enough to hold most shots and almost no breeze, "it was there for the taking," said Catriona Matthew of Scotland, in with a 3-under 70. "That's probably the easiest we're going to get it."

Still, it was hard enough that Sorenstam, a three-time champion in this event playing in her final Open, managed a 2-over 75. Paula Creamer, already a six-time winner on the LPGA Tour at 21, also was in position to challenge for her first major title when she came in late in the day with a 70, the same score posted by 1987 Open winner Laura Davies of England, who would qualify for the LPGA Hall of Fame if she wins this week.

Uribe is playing in her third U.S Open after missing the cut each of the last two years. She said she plans to stay an amateur for a while and likely remain in college, unless she somehow manages to win this week to become the youngest major winner and only the second amateur U.S. Open champion, joining Catherine Lacoste (1967). Only then, she said, would she consider turning pro.

"I was just trying to have fun today," Uribe said. "I was trying not to play aggressive, but some shots came out aggressive. It was just one of those days. I was laughing out there. It was like Tiger's round in the U.S. Open on Saturday, like he makes it, one of those days that everything goes right, and I just took advantage of it."

Uribe said her round began to show some promise when she made a tough 10-foot putt to save par at the 227-yard eighth hole, fist pump included. She followed that with three straight birdies to get to 3 under, then made a six-footer for birdie at the 345-yard 15th hole that sneaked into the left edge and produced a flashy pump with a double twirl at the end, almost as if she were snapping a whip.

"I don't really think about that, they just come from my body," she said of her celebrations. "Maybe it's the Latin fire. I don't know what it is. You don't really think I'm doing that stuff. It just comes out."

There was one last fiery display at the 530-yard 18th. Uribe hit a majestic 3-wood second shot to the back of the green and two-putted from there from 18 feet, finishing off her round in fine style, accompanied by a rousing roar from hundreds watching all around.

Asked later if she had been at all concerned about playing with Ochoa and Kerr, she said she was no more nervous than usual in a big event.

"I like to play under pressure, so I was looking forward to it and I knew I was going to play good today," she said. "Every time I'm under pressure, I do better than when I'm just playing for fun. If you play with me on a Saturday at my golf course, I know you won't think I'm a good player."