Michelle Wie makes an 8, finishes with 80

Now 23, former phenom Michelle Wie, who first played this tournament at 14 and finished in a third-place tie when she was 17, Thursday went from "fescue to fescue to fescue" for a quadruple bogey on her opening hole, the 10th. She finished at 8-over 80. She did have the longest drive distance average of 283 yards.

"Everything that could go wrong went wrong today," Wie said, "but I'm proud of myself for making three birdies on the last four holes [her nines were 45-35]. Hopefully I can bounce back tomorrow, make a couple of birdies and not have a 10 happen again."

Swede via OklahomaIt could be considered something of a revelation that 24-year-old Swede Caroline Hedwall sits two strokes off the lead with a 4-under-par 68.

More of an eye-opener, possibly, is that Hedwall, hailing from a land where June temperatures are high 60s, played her college career at Oklahoma State University, where high 80s are the norm this time of year.

"Well," Hedwall said, "it's kind of a tradition for Swedes to go to Oklahoma State. I think I was the 20th player to play there. They have a really good reputation in Sweden . . . It was quite a big difference culture-wise. But that's what I like about traveling."

A bevy of KimsThe odds that a Kim would be first among the Open's 156 players were pretty good. There were seven Kims in action this year: Besides leader Ha-Nuel Kim of Korea (who shot 66), there were Americans Alice Kim (89), Kyung Kim (71), Christina Kim (75) and Koreans Char Young Kim (75), I.K. Kim (68) and Birdie Kim (78).