By William Jempty of OTB Sports
 
The inaugural Stanford International Pro-am began Thursday at the Fairmont Turnberry Isle Resort & Club in Aventura, Fla. 112 of the finest women golfers in the world are teeing it up for the 72-hole LPGA event. Whoever wins this weekend will take home a $300,000 winner’s check. Other than the year-ending ADT Championship, this is the first time the LPGA has played a tournament in South Florida since 2001.

2008 LPGA leading money winner and 2006-07 Player of the Year Lorena Ochoa is not playing this week but the Stanford still has a strong field. Cristie Kerr, Annika Sorenstam, Karrie Webb, Paula Creamer, Juli Inkster, Seon Hwa Lee, Morgan Pressel and Suzann Pettersen are all here at Fairmont Turnberry Isle.
 
One thing that makes the Stanford International unique on the LPGA tour is its Pro-Am format. All 112 professionals this week are playing with an amateur partner. Celebrities teeing it up Thursday included tennis star James Blake, Stone Phillips of NBC News, former Miami Dolphin Jay Fiedler, current Dolphin kicker Jay Feely and celebrity chef Ming Tsai.
 
The weather was sunny, with a couple of brief drizzles in the late morning. A cool breeze has kept scores from going too low.
 
By late afternoon, tour rookies Yani Tseng from Taiwan and Momoko Ueda from Japan, were tied for the lead along with Candie Kung and Paula Creamer. Also out on the course at -3 or -4 were Annika Sorenstam, Young Kim and Linda Wessberg.
 
Yani Tseng, who finished 2nd last week at the Ginn Open in Orlando, shot a two under par 68 on the Miller course. The first 36 holes of the Stanford International are split evenly between the Miller and Soffer course here.
 
Seven events into the 2008 LPGA season, Yani already has two second-place finishes to her credit. She feels confident about her play at present. Yani hit the ball in the water at hole 16 but laughed how she birdied 18, saying she wanted an eagle.
 
Talking with reporters about her double bogey afterwards, Yani was not too happy, "Yeah, second shot went in the water. I was like, 'Crap!'”  Yani two-putted the 18th for birdie from 30 feet. At present Yani is showing few signs of a case of rookie nervousness.
 
Despite her disappointment at not have made Eagle on 18, Yani made up for it elsewhere on the course. After bogeying the second hole, Yani made birdies on the 5th hole from nine feet, the 7th from 20 feet, and from seven and a half feet on the ninth. This gave Yani a front nine 33.  Besides her double bogey on 16 and birdie on 18, Yani birdied the 11th from 15 feet. Yani told reporters she feels confident going into the second round Friday, especially given the presence of her golf coach Glen Daugherty.

Japan’s Ueda shot a 68 on the Soffer course to tie Yani. The two courses play to different par scores, Soffer a par 71 while Miller being Par 70. Ueda like Yani Tseng is playing her first LPGA season. However Ueda won last year’s Mizuno Classic in Japan, which is the LPGA’s lone tour stop in the country. The LPGA plays tournaments at present in the United States, Canada, France, Great Britain, Mexico, South Korea, Thailand, Japan, Singapore and will soon add an event in China. With over 100 foreign-born golfers on tour at present, the LPGA is truly an international tour.
 
Candie Kung shot a 68 on the Miller course to tie Yani and Momoko. Like Yani, Candie is from Taiwan. After a disappointing 2007 season, Candie looks to have her game back in gear. The three-time LPGA tour winner, finished tied for fifth at last week’s Ginn Open.
 
Paula Creamer talking about Thursday’ss pro-am said, “This is great. It’s probably the most fun I had on the golf course in a long time.” Pro tennis player James Blake was Paula’s amateur partner.

Wanting to get out on the course with the players, I picked the pairing of Cristie Kerr and Christina Kim, following them for nine holes--a good choice as Cristie ended the day with a 69 and Christina with a 70 making them two of Thursday’s leaders. Christina’s front nine was full of excellent approach shots. She birdied holes 1, 3, 5 and 8 all from inside of 15 feet. A deft chip after overshooting the green got Christina a birdie on the par five 6th.
 
Christina’s one bad hole on the front nine was the par three 7th. She hit her tee shot long, into the back left bunker, and was unable to recover from there. Christina narrowly missed a birdie put on the ninth hole.
 
One of the highlights of the round was watching actor James Caan (Sonny Corleone in The Godfather and Brian Piccolo in Brian’s Song). After two average opening shots, Caan hit a rescue club approach shot to five feet on the par five fifth. James sank the putt for an outright birdie/net eagle on the hole.
 
Cristie Kerr’s round was steady if not spectacular. She made birdies on two, six, and nine. Since Cristie hails from nearby Kendall, Fla., she had family in the gallery following her. I met and spoke with both Cristie’s mother and her husband Eric during the round.
 
I didn’t walk with Christina or Cristie on the back nine. If not for a closing quadruple bogey at 18, Christina would have finished with the outright lead today. Christina was happy with the round other her poor 18th hole, and joked about how she enjoyed playing with Caan. Christina said the greens had many undulations and mounds, then joked that some mafia men were buried underneath them. Shades of The Godfather.
 
Because of the Pro-Am format, 18 took around six hours to compete. Some golfers said they had problems concentrating because of the slow pace. Tennis player James Blake said he learned something Thursday; you have to bring food. Six hours under the hot Florida sun does leave players requiring nourishment on the course.
 
South Korea’s Young Kim shot an opening round 67 and Annika Sorenstam came in with a 68. Good conditions, a wide variety of players, and a tight leaderboard could make the Stanford International the most exciting event of the young 2008 LPGA season.