Park leads as Wie makes a mess of Pine Needles

SOUTHERN PINES, N.C. (AP) — In a US Women's Open dominated by talk of teenagers, one of them wound up atop the leaderboard yesterday.

Eighteen-year-old rookie Angela Park birdied her first three holes and hung on for a 3-under 68, leaving her in the lead in the first round for the second straight major.

No rain touched the turf at Pine Needles, but play was suspended for three-and-a-half hours because of lightning in the area. Only the morning batch of 78 players were able to finish the round.

Meanwhile, 17-year-old Michelle Wie continued her free fall, hitting only four fairways, and 12-year-old Alexis Thompson played carefree until it was too dark to continue.