Lpga Championship

ROCKLAND, Del. -- Nancy Lopez, in the fifth month of pregnancy, cited fatigue in announcing her withdrawal from the LPGA Championship yesterday.The 72-hole championship will begin Thursday at Bethesda (Md.) Country Club.Her place in the field will be taken by Jennifer Wyatt."I withdrew from the championship this [yesterday] morning. This is my last one. I'm ready to go home," Lopez said after completing a third-round, 3-under-par 68 for 210 in the McDonald's Championship at Du Pont Country Club.

LOS ANGELES — In the world of professional golf, the LPGA Tour is the runt of the litter. Even more so now. Annika Sorenstam is gone. She won so much for so long and did so in such a cool, collected way that whatever limited fan base the tour had, she made it larger. Lorena Ochoa is gone. She won so much in such a short time, and did so in such a cool, collected way that whatever fan base Sorenstam had grown, Ochoa grew it more. Clearly, the LPGA needs a new leading lady.

It's new dates and a new contract, but the site will be the same when the 1992 Mazda LPGA Championship is held May 14-17 at Bethesda Country Club. The joint announcement was made by Hal Seward, executive tournament manager of Advantage International, and Jim Silman, president of Bethesda CC.A new contract calls for the club to be host to the event for one year. "The original contract is history," Seward said. That was a five-year deal, calling for the club to hold the championship for two years, with three one-year options to follow.

The LPGA Championship played to sizable, enthusiastic crowds last week at Locust Hill Country Club. The event delivered a memorable performance, too, with Cristie Kerr's 12-stroke romp to a second major trophy. Now the question is whether LPGA bosses want to do it again. The tour's annual stop outside Rochester, N.Y., stepped up to major status this year in a stopgap measure as the LPGA took control of its flagship event and moved through the first months of Commissioner Michael Whan's tenure.

Professional golf in the Baltimore area has a long and rich, if not quite deep, history. Back in '99 - 1899 that is - Willie Smith won the U.S. Open at Baltimore Country Club. It was the fifth Open ever played and the last major professional golf championship contested in the city until 1988, when Liselotte Neumann won the U.S. Women's Open at the same club in a different location. LPGA Championship Bulle Rock, Havre de Grace, Thursday-Sunday TV: The Golf Channel, 4-7 p.m. each day

LPGA CHAMPIONSHIP Tomorrow through Sunday Bulle Rock Golf Course, Havre de Grace SPECTATORS' GUIDE AND MAP, PAGES 4-5S BOOZ ALLEN CLASSIC Tomorrow through Sunday Congressional Country Club, Bethesda COURSE MAP AND PREVIEW, PAGE 7S

GALLOWAY TOWNSHIP, N.J. -- The 2005 season was winding down, and the way Rosie Jones had it figured, so was her career on the LPGA Tour. As well as she was playing, as competitive as she was, the injuries weren't going away. Nor were the tour's upstarts, some of whom were young enough to be her daughter. "Everything as far as my body goes is screaming at me, `What are you doing to me, just stop,' " Jones, 46, said one afternoon last week, standing on the practice tee at the Marriott Seaview Resort and Spa before the start of the ShopRite LPGA Classic.

BETHESDA -- Jenny Lidback is making up for lost time with her play through two rounds of the LPGA Championship.Lidback, 30, in her fifth tour season, followed a bogey with a birdie and used a 17-foot putt for birdie on the 18th green to shoot 67 for a 36-hole total of 136, one shot off the pace of leader Cindy Rarick.It has been a fractured season for the native of Peru who now lives in Scottsdale, Ariz. She played in the year's second event, in Hawaii, then, with her non-exempt status did not get into another event until the Lady Keystone Open in Hershey, Pa., a month ago.That was the start of playing four straight weeks, and her play shows more consistency because of it.She tied for 21st in Hershey, used a 69 as the highlight of a tie for seventh in the Corning (N.Y.

Scanning the leader board at the LPGA Championship, you notice a couple of Chos, two Davies, four Lees, five Parks and nine Kims. Out of 149 names in yesterday's opening-round field, though, there are really only two that draw the attention of the casual sports fan, and both have done their part this week to illustrate what it means to be a professional golfer. Annika Sorenstam told us what to do; Michelle Wie showed us what not to do. The past several days - which began with Wie's curious withdrawal at the Ginn Tribute Hosted By Annika and continued with a public reprimand from Sorenstam and a Team Wie meeting with the LPGA's top boss - might ultimately push forward an important and inevitable realization: For the first time since Wie began making waves four years ago, the young golfer finds herself needing the LPGA just as much as the tour needs her. And if both are going to move forward and feed off each other profitably, they'd better come to a quick understanding that what's best for Wie is best for the tour and vice versa.

You had to get up early to watch Michelle Wie in the second round of the LPGA Championship yesterday at Bulle Rock. She teed off before 8 a.m. The thousands of fans who came out were richly rewarded. Wie blasted long drives into the high blue sky, sank some birdie putts and finished with a 68 that could easily have been four strokes better. "She left a few shots out there, for sure. This isn't a terribly hard course for her. I could easily see her shooting a 63 or 64 in one of the weekend rounds," said her instructor, David Leadbetter, the renowned swing coach who has mostly tutored men's champions such as Nick Faldo and Ernie Els. Her round put her in position to compete for the championship - she finished second in this tournament a year ago - and also illustrated why many of the questions she seems to generate are irrelevant.

SUNDAY'S TELEVISION HIGHLIGHTS F1 Grand Prix of Europe (T) 45, 5 Noon NASCAR Sprint Cup Lenox 301 TNT 1 MLB Washington@Orioles MASN/MASN2/13 1:30 Detroit@Atlanta TBS 1:30 Cubs@White Sox WGN-A 2 Yankees@Dodgers ESPN 8 Washington@Orioles (T) MASN 11:30 WNBA Los Angeles@Atlanta NBA 3 Phoenix@Washington CSN 4 Phoenix@Washington NBA 5 PGA Euro.

Community:: Havre de Grace Location:: Harford County Average sales price:: $241,000 (January through June) Notable features:: Water, water, everywhere. Havre de Grace's northeastern boundary is the Susquehanna River, and along its southeastern edge flows the Chesapeake Bay. There's a boardwalk promenade along the river and boats galore, plus a quaint downtown on the National Register of Historic Places. Some of the homes here are historic and stately. Some are just darn cute, with splashes of bright color and inviting porches.

Community: Havre de Grace Location: Harford County Average sales price: $241,000 (January through June) Notable features: Water, water, everywhere. Havre de Grace's northeastern boundary is the Susquehanna River, and along its southeastern edge flows the Chesapeake Bay. There's a boardwalk promenade along the river and boats galore, plus a quaint downtown on the National Register of Historic Places. Some of the homes here are historic and stately.

The McDonald's LPGA Championship said goodbye to Bulle Rock in improbable fashion Sunday, with a Swedish rookie named Anna Nordqvist earning her first tour victory on a sun-splashed afternoon in Harford County. But don't let all the hugs and champagne-popping scene on the 18th hole fool you. Women's golf is struggling. Forget the fact that the LPGA Championship still doesn't have a home for 2010. Forget that there are open dates on this year's schedule. Forget that major sponsors, whacked by the recession, are pulling out in droves.

BETHESDA -- They came off the course in a steady stream, with one vital thing in common. Their magic number was 68.That's 68 as in 3-under-par. Ten players shot 68 in the first round of the $1 million Mazda LPGA Championship yesterday at Bethesda Country Club. The LPGA said that a 10-way, first-round tie is probably a record for the tournament that began in 1955, but couldn't verify it.The list was headed by a pair of Hall of Famers, Nancy Lopez, a three-time winner of this event, and Patty Sheehan, who has won it twice.

WILMINGTON, Del. -- The more Karrie Webb works her way through her first year on the LPGA Tour, the more she reminds people of Nancy Lopez at the same stage.Webb won a European major before she qualified for the tour, then did not place first in her qualifying school. Once each started to win, it seemed as though she was in contention practically every week.Both players will be in the 42nd annual LPGA Championship when it opens today at DuPont Country Club. Two other multiple winners -- Liselotte Neumann and Meg Mallon -- plus defending titlist Kelly Robbins -- will be sharing the spotlight.