Michigan Women's Open has a wide variety of players near the lead after day one

INDIANA PRO SETS PACE AT MICHIGAN PGA WOMEN’S OPEN; MSU GOLFER TIED FOR 2ND

Milena Savich leads after day one

Lindsey McPherson of Flushing, a Michigan State University golfer who was tied for second.


  THOMPSONVILLE – Normally the first round is the problem round for Milena Savich of Carmel, Ind., but that wasn’t the case Monday as she set the first-round pace in the 20th Michigan PGA Women’s Open at Crystal Mountain Resort.
  Savich, 23 and a first-year professional, shot a 4-under-par 68 on the Mountain Ridge course to lead Michigan State golfer Lindsey McPherson and LPGA Symetra Tour golfer Rachael Schmidt by one shot through the first round of the three-day 54-hole $40,000 championship.
   “Usually the first round is my Achilles Heel,” said Savich, who in March won a Sun Coast Tour event in Florida for her first professional victory and has conditional status on the Symetra Tour. “So this is a pretty good confidence-builder. I’ve just struggled in the past getting started in tournaments. Today I just was trying to hit some solid shots to get started, and I made a few putts.”
  Savich, who played one year of college golf at the University of Michigan and three at the University of Georgia, was 5-under before a three-putt bogey from 60 feet at No. 17, and then hit what she called maybe her best shot of the day at 18.
  “It was my second chip (fourth shot),” she said of a par save on the par 5 18th. “I had a nasty lie on the first chip, but then hit the second one close.”
  McPherson, who will have junior eligibility in the fall for the Spartans, was beaming after shooting her first career competitive round in the 60s with the 69 she carded.
  “I’m obviously feeling really good,” she said. “I started out and through six holes I was 4-under. So right at the beginning I knew I was having a day. Sometimes you have days where you can’t get anything to fall, and sometimes you can’t miss. Today was one of those days.”
   McPherson has played in the Michigan Open three times previously, but was never in contention or low amateur. She said when she saw her name of a leaderboard in the middle of the back nine if felt incredible.
  “I was left with a little left-to-right four-foot breaker on 18 (for 69), and I was shaking like a leaf, I will tell you that,” she said.
   Schmidt, 26, is from Elk River, Minn., and playing in the Michigan Open for the third time. The former Upper Iowa University golfer carded her best round on the Mountain Ridge layout.
  “I just love it here – that’s why I keep coming back,” she said. “I have been working on my swing at home and on (the Symetra Tour), and today I hit some solid shots and it felt good.”
    Two touring professionals checked in with 70s, two shots off the lead.  In Hong Lim, a former Ohio State golfer, birdied four of the last five holes in her 70.  Amy Anderson, a former North Dakota State golfer from Oxbow, N.D., keyed her 70 with three consecutive birdies to start the back nine.
    Another Michigan State golfer and amateur, Christine Meier of Rochester Hills, shot 71. She was tied with Alexandra Casi, a Symetra Tour player from East Palestine, Ohio, and Erin Misheff, an amateur from Silver Lake, Ohio, who won the 2011 Women’s Ohio State Amateur Championship.
  Five golfers ended up at 72, including Kimberly Dinh of Midland, a University of Wisconsin golfer, and 2008 champion Connie Ross of St. Joseph was among the 14 players who shot 73.
   Just eight golfers shot under par in the field of 87, which plays all three rounds without a cut.
1 Milena Savich Carmel, IN 68 -4 68 T2 Lindsey McPherson(a) Flushing, MI 69 -3 69 Rachael Schmidt Elk River, MN 69 -3 69 T4 Amy Anderson Oxbow, ND 70 -2 70 Inhong Lim Beavercreek, OH 70 -2 70 T6 Alexandra Casi E Palestine, OH 71 -1 71 Christine Meier(a) Rochester Hills, MI 71 -1 71 Erin Misheff(a) Silver Lake, OH 71 -1 71 T9 Carmen Bandea Johns Creek, GA 72 Even 72 Brittany Bomar Anchorage, AK 72 Even 72 Kimberly Dinh(a) Midland, MI 72 Even 72 Natalie Gleadall Stratford, ONT 72 Even 72 Kristin Walla Aspen, CO 72 Even 72 T14 Lindsey Bergeon Sarasota, FL 73 +1 73 Mari Chun Pearl City, HI 73 +1 73 Natalia Ghilzon Windsor, ONT 73 +1 73 Suzanne Green-Roebuck Ann Arbor, MI 73 +1 73 Corie Hou Sydney, AE 73 +1 73 Becca Huffer Denver, CO 73 +1 73 Sarah Johnson(a) Wixom, MI 73 +1 73