Sorenstam buffeted but unbroken

Annika Sorenstam, the robotic Swede who in 2001 broke or equalled 30 records on the LPGA Tour, set about defending her Nabisco Championship at Mission Hills Country Club with her usual steely determination.

Although she dropped a shot at the 18th, she is only one behind her Solheim Cup teammate, Liselotte Neumann, who had a three-under par 69 in extremely difficult conditions. A chilly wind blew hard all day, becoming positively cold towards the end and the late finishers, like Sorenstam and the 15-year-old Thai, Aree Wongluekiet, were well worth their scores of 70 and 71 respectively. Naree, her identical twin, had a 76.

Sorenstam, the pre-tournament favourite and defending champion, was pleased with her round, particularly since her perennial challenger for the title of best player on tour, Karrie Webb, failed to utilise the warmer conditions in the morning and took 75.

"I'm very, very happy with my round," said Sorenstam. "The wind was howling and conditions were very tough."

Before the tournament Sorenstam was asked the secret of her success and the answer, if accepted at face value, was bland and boring: just hit fairways and then just hit greens. Oh, and she even managed the cliche hit one shot at a time.

Sorenstam has the game to be able to do that, but the real x-factor is her mind. The Nabisco is the women's first major championship of the year and the temptation, as Sorenstam has found in the past, is to get too pumped up, to try too hard.

"Sometimes, in the majors," said Sorenstam, "I've been a little too excited on Thursday. Today I was very focused and very patient. I just played calm golf, I didn't push it or get too aggressive."

It showed on the long 18th where, uncharacteristically, she pulled a four-wood tee shot into a lake. But she hit her fourth shot to three feet and should have salvaged a par. The putt, though, "did a 360", running all the way round the rim of the cup before staying out.

Neumann is actually a member of Mission Hills, has a home nearby and when the usual Florida schedule of four LPGA events was cancelled this year, she came to California for extra practice. She also enjoys playing in a wind, given that her swing is relatively short and compact.

"I can hit really low shots," said Neumann, "so I usually play pretty good in the wind. It got so as my caddie said to me, 'Are you sure you don't have a little British blood in you?' because the ball was flying so low."

Neumann and Sorenstam were the leading Swedes and Aree was the leading Wongluekiet.

Aree impressed one of her partners, another Swede, Catrin Nilsmark, who said: "I wasn't 'fall-down' amazed by her, but she certainly has a great golf game. I can't ever see her shooting a big score because her swing is so simple."

But Nilsmark added: "She knows she's only 15 and that she's got another 10 years to be the best in the world. She obviously feels good about herself and her game, and I was very impressed by that."

Apart from the Swedes, two Scots were the best Europeans. Mhairi McKay had the advantage of going out first and missed the coldest part of the day, recording a 73, while Janice Moodie had the same score in the worst of the weather.

There were more players on 74 than any other score and among them was Catriona Matthew, another Scot, with England's Laura Davies one shot worse.

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