OWINGS MILLS, Md.– Yani Tseng made a 12-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole to give Taiwan a sweep of the top-seeded United States team Thursday in the opening round of the International Crown.

Tseng and Phoebe Yao never trailed in a 1-up win over Stacy Lewis and Lexi Thompson. Earlier, Candie Kung and Teresa Lu beat Paula Creamer and Cristie Kerr 4 and 3.

The inaugural International Crown features 32 players from eight countries.

Each team receives two points for a win and one for a tie. The U.S. was the only team that failed to secure a point on the first day.

On Friday, the United States (0 points) will face Spain (3) in Pool A, and Taiwan (4) will take on Thailand (1). Pool B matchups are Japan (3) against South Korea (2), and Australia (2) versus Sweden (1).

Japan took the lead in Pool B with a strong performance against Sweden. Although the Japanese team of Ai Miyazato and Sakura Yokomine led from start to finish, it took a birdie on No. 18 by Yokomine to secure a 2-up win over Pernilla Lindberg and Mikaela Parmlid.

“That was a great start, for sure,” Miyazato said. “But still a long way to go. I’m exhausted already, because I used so much energy on the golf course.”

In Japan’s other match, Mamilo Higa and Mika Miyazato halved with Caroline Hedwall and Anna Nordqvist, who trailed by two strokes with seven holes left.

“We played really well, both of us, and just gave ourselves a lot of chances,” Hedwall said. “Then they managed to hole a couple more putts than we did. But I think we fought back really nice, and it’s good to get one point at least.”

The first points of the tournament were secured by Spain against Thailand in Pool A. The duo of Carlotta Ciganda and Azahara Munoz won 3 and 2 over Pornanong Phatlum and Onnarin Sattayabanphot, and Spain’s Belen Mozo and Beatriz Recari halved with sisters Ariya and Moriya Jutanugarn.

That provided the elated Spaniards with three points.

“From the beginning we started playing really well and kept hitting fairways and greens,” Munoz said. “We had many chances. We’re extremely happy to get those two points.”

Ciganda and Munoz were no strangers on the golf course.

“I played with Azahara lots of years when we were amateurs, then we went to school together and we played last year at the Solheim Cup,” Ciganda said. “Playing today with her, we were so comfortable out there, just having fun, laughing and making birdies.”

South Korea split with Australia, leaving each country with two points in Pool B. After Inbee Park and So Yeon Ryu forged a 3-and-2 win over Katherine Kirk and Lindsey Wright of Australia, Karie Webb and Minjee Lee beat I.K. Kim and Na Yeon Choi 2 up.

Park and Ryu both eagled the par-5 12th hole for a three-hole lead and coasted to finish.

The Webb-Lee tandem didn’t lead by more than one stroke until Lee sank her fourth birdie putt on the 18th hole.

OWINGS MILLS, Md.– Yani Tseng made a 12-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole to give Taiwan a sweep of the top-seeded United States team Thursday in the opening round of the International Crown.

Tseng and Phoebe Yao never trailed in a 1-up win over Stacy Lewis and Lexi Thompson. Earlier, Candie Kung and Teresa Lu beat Paula Creamer and Cristie Kerr 4 and 3.

The inaugural International Crown features 32 players from eight countries.

Each team receives two points for a win and one for a tie. The U.S. was the only team that failed to secure a point on the first day.

On Friday, the United States (0 points) will face Spain (3) in Pool A, and Taiwan (4) will take on Thailand (1). Pool B matchups are Japan (3) against South Korea (2), and Australia (2) versus Sweden (1).

Japan took the lead in Pool B with a strong performance against Sweden. Although the Japanese team of Ai Miyazato and Sakura Yokomine led from start to finish, it took a birdie on No. 18 by Yokomine to secure a 2-up win over Pernilla Lindberg and Mikaela Parmlid.

“That was a great start, for sure,” Miyazato said. “But still a long way to go. I’m exhausted already, because I used so much energy on the golf course.”

In Japan’s other match, Mamilo Higa and Mika Miyazato halved with Caroline Hedwall and Anna Nordqvist, who trailed by two strokes with seven holes left.

“We played really well, both of us, and just gave ourselves a lot of chances,” Hedwall said. “Then they managed to hole a couple more putts than we did. But I think we fought back really nice, and it’s good to get one point at least.”

The first points of the tournament were secured by Spain against Thailand in Pool A. The duo of Carlotta Ciganda and Azahara Munoz won 3 and 2 over Pornanong Phatlum and Onnarin Sattayabanphot, and Spain’s Belen Mozo and Beatriz Recari halved with sisters Ariya and Moriya Jutanugarn.

That provided the elated Spaniards with three points.

“From the beginning we started playing really well and kept hitting fairways and greens,” Munoz said. “We had many chances. We’re extremely happy to get those two points.”

Ciganda and Munoz were no strangers on the golf course.

“I played with Azahara lots of years when we were amateurs, then we went to school together and we played last year at the Solheim Cup,” Ciganda said. “Playing today with her, we were so comfortable out there, just having fun, laughing and making birdies.”

South Korea split with Australia, leaving each country with two points in Pool B. After Inbee Park and So Yeon Ryu forged a 3-and-2 win over Katherine Kirk and Lindsey Wright of Australia, Karie Webb and Minjee Lee beat I.K. Kim and Na Yeon Choi 2 up.

Park and Ryu both eagled the par-5 12th hole for a three-hole lead and coasted to finish.

The Webb-Lee tandem didn’t lead by more than one stroke until Lee sank her fourth birdie putt on the 18th hole.

SYLVANIA, Ohio  — Now that she’s officially a millionaire, Lydia Ko joked she’ll have to keep a closer watch on where her paychecks go.

“I’ll probably see that going into my mom’s account,” she said with a laugh, referring to the $210,000 she got for winning Sunday’s Marathon Classic.

The 17-year-old broke free from a late tie with So Yeon Ryu, hitting a wedge to 4 feet for birdie on the 72nd hole to take the lead. Then she tried in vain – she’s just 5-foot-5 – to see past the large gallery at 18 as Ryu missed a 6-foot birdie putt on the final hole that would have forced a playoff.

“I couldn’t see it properly. I was behind some people,” she said after her second LPGA Tour victory that matched the two Canadian Open titles she won as an amateur. “But I kind of could tell what happened by the crowd’s reaction.”

She became the youngest player to top $1 million in career earnings on the LPGA Tour. Ko is roughly 17 months younger than Lexi Thompson, previously the youngest. Ko has shown incredible consistency in her rookie year on tour, making the cut in all 15 tournaments she’s entered. She has six top-10 finishes in addition to her wins, with five of those being top-fives.

Ryu had poured in a big-breaking, 25-foot birdie putt on the 17th to pull even.

But then Ko stuck her approach at the par-5 closing hole and calmly rolled in the birdie putt for a 6-under 65 that left her at 15-under 269.

Ryu hit a brilliant third shot to the green, but pushed her 6-footer at the 18th.

“Absolutely I’m disappointed I missed (that) birdie putt,” she said. “Sometimes if I get something lucky, then I get something that is unlucky. I just accept it and let it go.”

Ko was resilient, also shrugging aside a challenge from veteran Cristie Kerr, who pulled into a tie with her on the homeward nine.

Ko, who proudly bears the flag of her native New Zealand on her golf bag, started the final round in fifth place, three shots behind co-leaders Laura Diaz and Lee-Anne Pace.

While they foundered, she crept up the leaderboard with birdies at holes 3 and 4. She tied for the top spot with a 12-foot birdie putt at the par-3 eighth, then took a solo lead for the first time after hitting her approach to 10 feet at the 10th.

Kerr, seeking her 17th career victory, rolled in a left-to-right breaker from 15 feet at the 13th to pull even. But her approach on the 399-yard, par-4 15th missed left and settled into heavy rough. She muscled the pitch shot onto the green, but it rolled 6 feet past and she lipped out the par putt.

Kerr, who shot a 67 to finish three shots back in third, failed to apply pressure when she could not birdie the closing two par-5s.

“I had a good/bad week,” she said. “I didn’t play 17 and 18 well all week. If you’re going to win here you have to take advantage of those holes.”

Ko hit a pitching wedge from 121 yards to 6 feet past the pin, then rolled in the downhill putt for a two-shot lead at the 16, but Ryu birdied four of six holes late in her round to tie.

Playing in the pairing immediately in front of Ryu, Ko hit three perfect shots on the closing par-5, which is bisected by a large, deep valley with a creek at the bottom. Her 72-yard chip shot nestled 4 feet away and she drilled it into the heart of the hole to regain the lead.

Ryu’s third on the final hole ended up pin-high and 6 feet away. But she pushed the putt off the right edge, the large gallery groaning as the ball rolled past.

Ryu’s 67 left her at 270. Kelly Tan (67), Katherine Kirk (68) and Pace (71) were at 273.

Diaz, who led almost from the start after birdieing her first five holes on Thursday, lapsed to a 75 and finished at 277.

Ko came into the round, which was delayed an hour by fog, vowing to shoot a 65. After she did it and collected the routine over-sized cardboard check, she pondered what she might do now that she’s a millionaire.

“I may do one of those teenage things – like getting something electronic,” she said with a grin. Rebecca Lee-Bentham earned a 12th place finish with a 68 in the final round.

Rebecca Lee-Bentham of Richmond Hill, ON earned a 12th place finish with a 68 in the final round alongside Quebec’s Maude Aimee Leblanc who finished  tied for 54th at 2-under.

SYLVANIA, Ohio – Lee-Anne Pace made a name for herself as an amateur in her native South Africa, then proved herself with eight wins on the Ladies European Tour.

Now she’s ready to make waves in the U.S.

Pace shot a 3-under 68 on Saturday to grab a share of the third-round lead with Laura Diaz in the Marathon Classic. She can barely express what a breakthrough win on the LPGA Tour might bring.

“It’ll mean quite a lot to be able to come out here and play well,” she said after recovering from bogeys at 11th and 12th holes with three late birdies. “It already has made my week. I was so tired in the beginning of the week and now this has happened, so I’m very excited.”

Pace could have foundered after losing the two shots to par. But she came right back to birdie the next two holes and then added another at the par-5 17th to join Diaz at 11-under 202.

The 33-year-old, in her 10th year as a pro, wants to keep it simple in the final round at Highland Meadows.

“I play a very similar type of game every time I go out there: Hit the fairways and try to hit the green and make the putt. And so far it’s been working,” she said. “Hopefully, coming down the stretch it’s going to be enough.”

It was a day of highs and lows for Diaz, the leader since birdieing her first five holes in an opening 62. She led by four and then three strokes after the first two rounds.

Chasing her first win since 2002, she could have regained the outright lead but left a 7-foot birdie putt short on the 18th to finish with a 71.

Up by three shots on the fourth hole on Saturday, the 39-year-old faltered with a double-bogey.

After pull-hooking her drive under a pine tree, she and caddie Pete Smith moved away some twigs and the ball moved. The gallery around her let out a collective gasp. She quickly assessed herself a one-shot penalty and ended up punching back to the fairway, hitting to the green and two-putting for the double.

By the time Diaz got to the tee at No. 9, rookie Jaye Marie Green’s torrid play had pulled her into a tie for the lead. Playing one group ahead, Pace would nail a 20-foot birdie putt from the fringe to join them.

But before Pace’s putt, Diaz hit the shot of the day.

Officials had moved the tees up on the 255-yard, par-4 hole to allow players to go for the green off the tee. Pace and playing partner So Yeon Ryu, the 2012 winner of the Marathon, vacated the putting surface to allow Diaz and Lydia Ko to hit their drives. Diaz’s ball landed 25 yards short of the green and had a bead on the pin before edging past. Diaz later rolled in the 10-foot downhill eagle putt to regain a two-shot lead.

Diaz bogeyed the 12th. The lead remained one shot until Pace hit into the deep rough near the bunker fronting the par-5 17th, dropped a delicate gap wedge to 8 feet and then rolled in the birdie putt to forge the tie.

Diaz consistently left birdie putts short all day.

Asked if a player can ever forget how to win after a long respite, she said, “I can’t say that I knew how to do it then, and I don’t know that I know how to do it now.”

Green applied pressure with a low round early on the cloudy day.

The medalist in last year’s LPGA Tour qualifying school, she turned in 30 and birdied four holes in a row before closing with a par on the par-5 closing hole. The 63 allowed her to climb from a tie for 31st at the start of the day to a share of the lead before Diaz’s eagle.

Green is tied a shot back with Ryu, who birdied the 15th, 16th and 17th holes for a 68.

Another shot back, at 9-under 204, was Ko, who birdied the last two holes in a 70. The group at 205 included Cristie Kerr (68) and last week’s Women’s British Open champion, Mo Martin, who had a 67.

Eighteen players are within four shots of the lead.

Pace sounded thrilled by the all the potential mayhem.

“Yeah, the whole LPGA is chasing,” she said.

Canada’s Rebecca Lee-Bentham slipped down the leaderboard into a tie for 19th at 6-under 207. The Team Canada member carded a 72 on moving day.

Quebec’s Maude Aimee-LeBlanc shot 69 Saturday. She’s sitting at 3-under 210 and is tied for 43rd.

SYLVANIA, Ohio – Laura Diaz got off to a surprising start at the Marathon Classic.

Diaz shot a 9-under 62 for a four-stroke lead in Thursday’s opening round.

U.S. Open champion Michelle Wie shot a 2-over 73, 2008 Marathon winner Paula Creamer was at 72 along with another perennial contender at Highland Meadows, Morgan Pressel.

The defending champion, Spain’s Beatriz Recari, and the world’s No. 1-ranked player, Stacy Lewis, were well down the list at 1 under.

“I definitely didn’t have my best out there,” Lewis said.

Diaz sure did.

“I’m very happy to shoot 62; I would be lying if I said I wasn’t,” she said. “It’s nice to get a good feeling after round one. To see the ball going in the hole, I think that’s always a boost.”

Despite being winless in the past 12 years on the LPGA Tour, she stunned the field by birdieing her first five holes in a round that included nine birdies and no bogeys. She made a 30-footer on her fifth hole, the 14th. Then she stepped back and enjoyed the moment.

“I kind of chuckled to myself – well, out loud,” she said.

She had a chance at tying her career best of six consecutive birdies, but missed a 7-footer on the next hole. She added four more birdies the rest of the way to grab the big lead.

Diaz, who won twice in 2002 and played on four U.S. Solheim Cup teams, has cut back on her competitive schedule in recent years while raising her two young children with her husband, Kevin Diaz.

She hasn’t finished inside the top 25 in a tour event since 2010. But she has regained a bit of her touch the past two outings, tying for 49th at the U.S. Women’s Open at Pinehurst and then tying for 64th in Arkansas the following week. She then took off a few weeks to stay at home, watching her 8-year-old son Cooper’s swim meets.

Daughter Lily, 4, hit the road with mom this week.

“I’ve been playing better this year than I’ve played in the last four years, but I’m still not where I would like to be,” she said. “But it’s going in the right direction.”

Sharing second were second-year pro out of LSU Austin Ernst and Lee-Ann Pace, a South African who has won eight times on the Ladies European Tour.

Leading the group of six players at 67 were Mo Martin and Lydia Ko.

Martin stole the show at last week’s Women’s British Open by capturing her first victory.

She is still basking in the afterglow of that momentous win.

“I’m pretty tired and it still kind of feels like a dream,” she said. “I was joking around with the trainers, saying, `Can you massage here? Because my face hurts a little bit from smiling.'”

Ko is a two-time winner of the Canadian Women’s Open while an amateur who has already notched her first pro win this year on tour.

Joining Martin and Ko at 4 under were Katie Burnett, Mariajo Uribe, Lindsey Wright and Marissa Steen.

At 68 were 2012 Marathon winner So Yeon Ryu, Ai Miayazato, Julieta Granada, Ohio State grad Emma Jandel, Kelly Tan, Canada’s Rebecca Lee-Bentham and Paola Moreno.

Quebec’s Maude-Aimee LeBlanc was a shot back after a 2-under 69.

SOUTHPORT, England – Mo Martin hit the best shot of her life, and it made her a major champion Sunday in the Women’s British Open.

From the middle of the fairway on the par-5 18th hole at Royal Birkdale, Martin ripped a 3-wood that she first thought was too short, and then worried might be too long. It turned out to be close to perfect. The ball hit the middle of the pin and settled 6 feet away for an eagle.

An hour later, that turned out to be the winning shot for the 31-year-old American when Inbee Park and Shanshan Feng could not stay under par.

“I think I still need to be pinched,” Martin said.

A strong wind finally arrived off the Irish Sea, bringing an air of unpredictability to the final round of the Ricoh Women’s British Open.

But this was the topper.

Martin is among the shortest hitters in the game, and won with an eagle – her first of the year. It took her six years just to reach the LPGA Tour, and her first victory in her 64th tournament came in a major championship. She closed with an even-par 72 on a day so tough that no one broke par.

Martin was the only player to break par for the championship, finishing at 1-under 287 for a one-shot victory over Feng and Suzann Pettersen.

Feng made eight straight pars – that constituted a charge on this demanding day – and had the outright lead until she made bogey on the 16th hole. A playoff looked likely because the two closing holes at Royal Birkdale are par 5s. Feng missed birdie chances of about 15 feet and 10 feet. She shot 75.

Park, who started the day with a one-shot in her quest to become only the seventh woman to capture four of the LPGA’s majors, fell out of the lead by going long on the par-3 14th hole and never caught up. She missed a 12-foot birdie putt on the 17th, and then put her tee shot into the right rough on the easy 18th hole. Her third shot found a bunker, and Park made bogey for a 77.

Pettersen finished birdie-birdie to share second place, but her hopes in effect ended with a double bogey – her second of the round – on the 13th hole.

That left Martin, a UCLA mighty mite who stands no more than 5-foot-2, alone on the range getting ready for a playoff that never happened.

All because of one shot.

“An absolutely perfect 3-wood,” she said. “When it was in the air, I said, `Sit.’ And then I said, `Stop.’ And then when it was going toward the hole, I said, `OK, I don’t have anything more to say to that ball.’ I actually heard it hit the pin. It’s definitely one to remember.”

Americans now have won the first three majors of the LPGA Tour season for the first time since 1999, following Lexi Thompson at the Kraft Nabisco Championship and Michelle Wie at the U.S. Women’s Open.

A more likely candidate would have been Stacy Lewis, the defending champion, who also started only three shots behind. Lewis didn’t make a birdie until the 18th hole and closed with a 78. Wie missed the cut, and Thompson finished 15 shots out of the lead.

Martin had a three-shot lead going into the weekend, building her strategy on keeping the ball in the fairway. But she had a 77 in the third round, and that figured to be the end of her chances. After two bogeys in five holes to start the final round, she was solid the rest of the way.

“Absolutely a dream come true,” Martin said. “Safe to say it’s the best week of my life.”

Canada’s Alena Sharp fired a final round 75 to climb into a tie for 51st. The 13-over 301 tally will earn her $10,541. The Hamilton, Ont. native has two top-20 finishes on the LPGA Tour this year.

SOUTHPORT, England – One year later, Inbee Park is still chasing history at the Women’s British Open.

Instead of trying to win an unprecedented fourth straight major, Park has a chance to become only the seventh woman to win four of the LPGA’s majors. Instead of photographers capturing her every move at St. Andrews, the 26-year-old South Korean has gone about her work without fanfare at Royal Birkdale.

That changed Saturday with a remarkable start, and a late ruling that put Park in the lead.

On the tough opening stretch at Royal Birkdale, she ran off three birdies that sent her to a 4-under 68. Then, Park went from a one-shot deficit to a one-shot lead when Ahn Sun-Ju was penalized two shots after her round for building a stance in the bunker on the 18th hole.

“I definitely enjoyed it last year,” Park said. “But this year has just been a little bit different. Last year I enjoyed it and having pressure and experiencing something I never have experienced before. If I end up winning tomorrow, I’ll definitely enjoy this year better.”

The 18 holes remaining could be a sprint among a dozen players.

Park had a one-shot lead over a pair of major champions – Suzann Pettersen of Norway (68) and Shanshan Feng of China (69) – along with Ahn. Julieta Granada (72) and Amelia Lewis (71) were another shot behind.

Ahn appeared to be the player to catch after what she thought was a 69 for a one-shot lead.

She was summoned to the rules trailer, where officials determined she used her left foot to build her stance in a pot bunker left of the 18th green. Ahn was assessed two shots for violating Rule 13-3. Her par turned into a double bogey. Her 69 became a 71. And she went from a one-shot lead in the final group to having to make up ground against Park, the LPGA Tour’s reigning player of the year.

“It’s disappointing, but it’s my mistake and I have to follow the rules of the game,” Ahn said through an interpreter. “I still have a day to go and I have to stay focused and try my best tomorrow.”

The penalty also created a wide-open final round at Royal Birkdale.

Park was at 4-under 212, though 12 players were within three shots of the lead.

One of them was Charley Hull, the go-for-broke English teenager who made nine birdies early Saturday for a tournament-best 66 that suddenly put her into contention to become the youngest major champion in LPGA Tour history. She was at 1-under 215.

Also in the mix was Mo Martin, the 31-year-old American done in by a four-hole stretch on the back nine that sent her to a 77. She also was at 215, along with former U.S. Women’s Open champion So Yeon Ryu, who made one bad decision and one bad swing, both leading to double bogey. Ryu had a 74.

Defending champion Stacy Lewis had a 70 and was three shots behind.

Park has been virtually ignored all week, a big difference from last year. That could be about to change.

“Yeah, I start to feel a little bit of pressure from now and tomorrow,” Park said. “But I’d rather be having the pressure than not being in contention.”

Ahn took the outright lead with a 25-foot birdie putt on the 16th hole, and was poised to stretch the margin.

Her penalty on the 18th actually began with a photographer who took a sequence of pictures at the top of her swing on her second shot. She caught it heavy and pulled it left, into the bunker, as she and her caddie looked back to see who was the culprit.

She blasted out of the sand and over the green, and did well to get down in two putts. Only later did officials determine she had built her stance. She said the ball was on the slope of the bunker and it was hard to make a stance.

“So what I was trying to do was fix a stance,” she said. “But after the review, it was determined that I used my feet to try to make an even lie. My intent wasn’t to break the rules. It was just to set my feet firm in the sand just to be able to make the shot. But that’s the rule. There was no intent and I can’t do anything about it.”

A one-shot lead is next to nothing in golf. Three shots can disappear quickly. And what could make this Women’s British Open go down to the wire is the finish at Royal Birkdale – three par 5s over the last four holes.

“You can make a double so quick on this golf course that you’ve just got to keep hanging in there,” Lewis said. “I you get in trouble, get out, and just stay patient. If you make a bogey, it’s OK because you’ve got some par-5 finishing holes here.”

Canada’s Alena Sharp carded a third-round 76 to sit tied for 62nd heading into Sunday’s finale.

SOUTHPORT, England – Mo Martin had a plan for Royal Birkdale, and it’s working better than she imagined at the Ricoh Women’s British Open.

Martin took two putts from short of the green on the par-5 18th hole Friday for her 10th birdie in two rounds, and her second straight 3-under 69. That gave the American a three-shot lead over Beatriz Recari of Spain and former U.S. Women’s Open champion So Yeon Ryu going into the weekend.

“It’s always nice when your plan pans out,” Martin said. “So it’s fun to be here.”

For Michelle Wie, it was fun while it lasted

Coming off her first major in the U.S. Women’s Open at Pinehurst No. 2, Wie kept putting herself in tough spots and couldn’t convert enough pars. She followed her highest score of the year (75) with one that was even worse, a 78 to miss the cut by three shots.

Wie was among the favourites. It was easy to overlook the 31-year-old Martin, who has never won an LPGA Tour event and is playing links golf for only the third time.

She is 5-foot-2 and among the shortest hitters in women’s golf. That figured into her strategy at Royal Birkdale, which is littered with pot bunkers and is framed by dunes covered in thick grass.

“Every hole you have something to think about. Every single shot you have something to think about,” Martin said. “But there’s fairway there, and there’s green there, and that’s what I’m focusing on. … My caddie and I just figured out where the widest parts of the fairway were, where I would have the best approaches into the greens.”

She made it sound so simple, even as Royal Birkdale has been plenty tough in pristine weather for these parts _ a steady wind, but not as strong as it could be.

Martin was at 6-under 138, one of only two players to break par in both rounds.

Ryu was the other, overcoming a double bogey on her second hole by not dropping a shot the rest of the way. She shot 70 and was at 3-under 141. Recari, who arrived at Birkdale with a sore wrist that she attributed to no one helping her carry her luggage in the airport, birdied the last three holes for a 67.

Ahn Sun-Ju also had six birdies in a round of 67 that left her one shot behind at 2-under 142, along with Julieta Granada (70). Only nine players were under par when the cut was made at 6-over 150.

The accuracy of Martin has been critical, for it doesn’t take much to get out of position at Royal Birkdale, and escaping is never easy.

Karrie Webb, the only woman to win five of the LPGA’s majors, began her back nine with a triple bogey and picked up a bogey on the par-5 17th for a 79 to miss the cut. Catriona Matthew, a former Women’s British Open champion, had a 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 for scores on her card. She finished with a tap-in eagle for an 83.

Ayako Uehara, the first-round leader with a 68, shot a 44 on the back nine for a 79 and fell nine shots behind. And then there was Lexi Thompson, the Kraft Nabisco winner, who began her round by hitting two shots out of bounds and making a 10. Thompson fought back for a 77.

The second round offered a few amazing shots, none that tops the one by Vikki Laing of Scotland. She holed out with a 5-wood from 240 yards for a double eagle on the par-5 17th.

Wie was on the cut line until her tee shot on the 16th went right into a blackberry bush. She was inches away from asking for a free drop from a plaque in the ground, but instead had to take a penalty drop and made double bogey. She was too disgusted to read the plaque _ it was there in honour of Arnold Palmer, who in 1961 slashed a 6-iron out of the bush and onto the green on his way to his first British Open title.

“That didn’t happen for me,” Wie said with a smile.

Through it all, mighty Mo just motored along without much fanfare. The UCLA grad played bogey-free on the front nine with two birdies. And when she got in trouble with back-to-back bogeys, she chalked that up to a good plan with poor execution. And then it was back to work.

She hit a soft wedge from 71 yards to tap-in range for birdie on the par-5 15th, and then added her third birdie on a par 5 at the last hole.

Martin has won three times on the secondary Futures Tour. She had a plan for those courses, too. The real test comes this weekend, with a major title at stake and experienced players behind her.

One of them is Ryu, who has played enough big events to know that bad things can happen to everyone. For Ryu, it was a double bogey on the second hole.

“Links golf is always hard to predict,” Ryu said. “Even when I hit the great shots, still can finish at the worst place. And when I hit the bad shots, still can finish close to the pin. So it’s really important, whatever the result, we need to accept it and just keep working. Today I made a double bogey on the second hole, but I knew it was just unlucky. I just accepted it and then think about next holes, and it helped a lot.”

Canada’s Alena Sharp made a timely birdie on hole No. 17 today to get to 6-over for the championship and make the cut on the number.

SOUTHPORT, England – Ayako Uehara of Japan felt confident with the putter and played in the best weather Royal Birkdale has to offer. It was the right combination to take the lead Thursday in the Women’s British Open. And the best she could manage was a 4-under 68.

Pot bunkers can present problems on any links course. Throw in some thick grass and par becomes a problem.

Michelle Wie could attest to that. The U.S. Women’s Open champion spent too much time chipping out of sand and rough on her way to a 75. Cristie Kerr didn’t make a birdie, shot 81 and withdrew with a sore back. Only nine players broke par, all but two of them in the relative calm of a sunny morning along the Irish Sea.

“It’s only going to get harder,” defending champion Stacy Lewis said after a 71. “Anything under par on this golf course is a good score.”

Uehara got her lone mistake out of the way early and made another bogey after the opening hole. She made three birdies in a four-hole stretch, added two birdies on the back nine and built a one-shot lead over Mo Martin.

“Ayako obviously put up a really good number,” said Lewis, who played in her group. “She seems like she wasn’t in trouble at all. She was just greens, greens, center of the green. You can kind of learn a little bit from that and maybe not go at so many pins.”

Morgan Pressel scrambled her way to a 70, joined by Sarah Kemp and Mina Harigae. The only players who broke par in the afternoon were former U.S. Women’s Open champion So Yeon Ryu and Amy Yang, who played in the final group at the U.S. Women’s Open last month. Both shot 71.

“I don’t think they can make it any easier,” Pressel said.

That doesn’t bode well for Wie, who was introduced on the first tee as the U.S Women’s Open champion and then posted her highest score of the year. Wie had to birdie the par-5 18th hole – the only time she hit driver – to finish 3 over.

“Thought I made a good game plan,” Wie said. “Just didn’t hit good shots today.”

Canada’s Alena Sharp, the lone Canuck in the field, did fare better than Wie. The Hamilton, Ont. native carded a 2-over 74.

The scores Thursday might have been a preview of what the men can expect next week at Royal Liverpool for The Open Championship, through Royal Birkdale is a stronger test. The links courses are separated by about 25 miles, and a wet spring has allowed the grass to get thick and lush. That makes it difficult to make contact with the golf ball, assuming it can be found. Tiger Woods won at Liverpool in 2006 on a fast course with wispy grass.

“The golf course is so hard, I couldn’t imagine four days of this much rough and all the wind and everything it entails,” Lewis said “It’s nice to have it pretty calm today.”

Pressel had 23 putts, though only four of them were for birdie. She escaped with par when she found trouble off the tee and one time salvaged bogey. Playing her third shot from the right rough to a pin on the right side of the tough 16th green protected by a pot bunker, Pressel played short of the green and got up-and-down to limit the damage. Her putter made all the difference.

“I was happy that I made it look easier than it actually was,” Pressel said.

It wasn’t like that for everyone.

Paula Creamer was 5-over par after five holes and rallied for a 75. The best comeback belonged to Jessica Korda, who went out in 39 and then made four birdies on the back nine to return to even par. Karrie Webb, Inbee Park, Suzann Pettersen and Kraft Nabisco champion Lexi Thompson also were at even par.

The way it looked Thursday, anyone around par might be in good shape when it ends on Sunday.

Wie now has to climb back on a course that makes it feel as though she has to scale a mountain. She tried to rely on her powerful stinger off the tee, using mostly hybrids, to stay short of the bunkers and out of the rough. But she hit only seven fairways, leading to three of her bogeys.

“I definitely felt like my tempo was a little bit off,” Wie said. “But it’s a long way until Sunday, and I battled out there. It’s not the score I was looking forward to on Thursday, but it could have been a lot worse.”

Martin had a plan for Birkdale, too. She is one of the shorter hitters on the LPGA Tour and can’t recall a round where she hit so many 3-woods off the tee, all in an effort to stay out of trouble.

“Every hole, every shot is its own test,” Martin said. “You just really have to have so much strategy. It keeps you in the moment and it’s a challenge. It’s a fun challenge.”

SOUTHPORT, England – Michelle Wie loves that her name is etched on the U.S. Women’s Open trophy forever. She’s looking forward to an introduction on the first tee as a major champion.

Otherwise, the 24-year-old from Hawaii is ready to put her first major championship behind her. Wie is among the favorites when the Ricoh Women’s British Open gets underway Thursday at Royal Birkdale.

Wie says winning at Pinehurst No. 2 doesn’t guarantee she will play well in the LPGA Tour’s next major. But it’s hard to ignore what she has done this year. Wie has been in the top 10 at eight of her last nine tournaments. And she has been in the last group in both majors this year.

Royal Birkdale is where Wie first played the Women’s British Open in 2005 when she was a 15-year-old amateur. She tied for third.