Creamer pushes lead to six at Farr tournament

SYLVANIA, Ohio -- In the quiet of the locker room after missing the cut a year ago, a disgusted Paula Creamer swore she'd get even with Highland Meadows Golf Club.

Making good on that vow, she followed a course-record 60 with a 6-under 65 Friday to build a six-stroke lead through two rounds of the Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic.

"That Friday I was sitting in the locker room packing up my things to go home," Creamer said after shattering the tournament's 36-hole record by six shots. "That was not a good feeling."

She promised her sponsors -- also the tournament's title sponsor -- that she'd get payback.

"I was telling them, 'I'm coming back. I'm going to come back and play this golf course well,'" said Creamer, who stands at 17-under 125 -- the lowest 36-hole total on the LPGA Tour this year by five strokes.

First, she flirted with a magical 59 -- the lowest competitive round ever on the PGA or LPGA tours- - in the first round. Then the 21-year-old needed a birdie on one of the two closing par-5 holes on Friday to tie the tour record for fewest shots taken through two rounds. Instead, she parred both holes, missing a short birdie putt and then saving a par on the 18th after missing the green with her approach.

Paula Creamer is annoyed with this shot but not much more. (AP)

"She has been incredible and her score is unbelievable," said Eun-Hee Ji, the only player within 10 shots of her. Ji has rounds of 65 and 66 and still trails by a half dozen strokes.

Creamer had seven birdies and her only bogey of the tournament a day after she birdied nine of the final 11 holes and totaled 11 birdies. The 60 eclipsed by a shot the course record of defending champion Se Ri Pak.

The tournament may be half over, but as far as most of the players are concerned it's completely over.

"She's so far ahead, you're almost playing for second," said Stacy Lewis, who shot a 66 and lost ground after starting the day 10 shots back.

Pak, trying to become the first LPGA player to win the same event six times, shot a 69 and was 12 shots behind. She went 63-68 a year ago in the first two rounds to match Kelly Robbins' tournament record, set in 1997.

Rachel Hetherington, who won the 2002 Farr, shot a 67 and was tied for third with H.J. Choi (68) at 135.

The scary part is that Creamer used the word "terrible" to describe three shots -- and still matched the lowest round of the day with her 65.