Stanford Takes Early Lead in Founders Cup

Angela Stanford paid homage to the originators of the LPGA Tour by firing a 6-under 66 to take the opening-round lead in the Founders Cup. The 54-hole event, which honors the LPGA's founders, is being played at the Wildfire Golf Club at JW Marriott Phoenix Desert Ridge Resort & Spa in Phoenix.

Brittany Lincicome is right behind Stanford after a 67. Shooting 68s Friday are Beatriz Recari of Spain, Sweden's Sophie Gustafson and American Juli Inkster, a member of the LPGA's Hall of Fame.

World No. 1 Yani Tseng had a disappointing day with three birdies, two bogeys and a double on the par-4 third hole en route to a 1-over 73. She's tied for 64th.

The unique Founders Cup features a "mock purse" totaling $1.3 million, all of which will go toward junior golf and other charities. Despite actually not taking home paychecks, players will be credited with earnings "won" for money-list purposes, based on how the "purse" would traditionally be distributed. They'll also get points for Player of the Year, Rookie of the Year, Solheim Cup qualifying, etc. The charitable pool for the top-five finishers will be $200,000. The first-place finisher will donate a prize of $100,000, second place $50,000, third place $25,000, fourth place $15,000 and fifth place $10,000. In addition, $500,000 will go to the LPGA Foundation and its LPGA-USGA Girls Golf program.

Stanford scorecard was certainly colorful thanks to six birdies. The 33-year-old Texan also had a double-bogey on the eighth hole, which she promptly neutralized with an eagle 2 on the par-4 ninth.

Lincicome's effort was a bit more straightforward after six birdies and a bogey, and she was happy with her play. "It was a great round," the 25-year-old said later. "It's a fun golf course out there. It's a little bit different for my game because normally I'm used to hitting wedges and then kind of spinning them back, and here you have to allow for them to kind of release five or even seven yards.

"So it's a little bit different, but I knew going into this week that the greens were going to be a little bit firm, so I felt like I handled it and managed it pretty well out there today."

As for her designated charity this week, the Florida native said, "I am playing for The First Tee of St. Pete. I'm on the board, and it's just a charity that I've been affiliated with for the last couple years now.

"We have an annual golf tournament every year in December, and we do a couple of poker tournaments throughout the year. Just trying to raise money for the kids. It's a great cause. A lot of families can't afford for their children to play golf, so it just helps fund that and just keep getting kids involved with golf."

Recari, who's seeking her second career victory on the LPGA Tour following a playoff win over Gwladys Nocera in last October's CVS/ Pharmacy Challenge, remarked that that win provided a big boost to her budding career. "(The victory) helped me tremendously because it's verifying for me that the work that I was doing was correct and that my game was good enough to win out there," the 23-year-old from Pamplona said.

"It's just a matter of refinement here and there just keeping with it, that it was not a major thing; I could win, so why can't I win now. And after that I had a very good end of the season, so that gave me a lot of confidence, of course.

"And other than that it gave me confirmation that what I was doing was right, so I just kept working on it and harder and harder and harder, and I believe that I did very good winter training, so far the best I consider. And I played well in Asia and I'm playing very well, so I'm feeling overall very confident.

"Like I said, I won last year, and of course, I want to keep winning. How many, I don't know. And you know, if I don't win this year, I can't control that. I just can control every day, and that's what I did out there today. And I just hope that I can put another two good rounds and I can take the trophy home."

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