Jenny opens with 2-over 74

KAILUA-KONA, Hawaii -- Filipino Jennifer Rosales fought back with a gutsy even-par 36 at the backside of the Kona Country Club course as she salvaged a two-over-par 74 at the start of the $800,000 Takefuji Classic here Thursday.

Although it was seven strokes off the pacesetting 67 of Janice Moodie, it put the 21-year-old Rosales well within reach of another stint in the final 36 holes of this 54-hole event serving as the fifth leg of the LPGA Tour.

After missing the cut on her debut in the Subaru Memorial, Rosales, a five-time Philippine Ladies Open champion and the US NCAA Division I winner in 1998, finished joint 43rd in the Los Angeles Women's Championship and placed 47th in the Hawaiian Ladies Open two weeks ago.

Rosales hopes to do better when she tees off again on No. 1 at 7:20 a.m. in the second round along with Grace Park (69) and Hiroko Fukushima of Japan (84).

But poor games seemed to hound compatriot Dorothy Delasin, the 1999 US Women's Amateur champion who never recovered from a disastrous 46 start at the backside of the 6,257-yard layout. She fumbled with an 82 and looked headed for another failed bid after missing the cut in the Hawaiian Ladies Open.

Unfamiliarity with the course on the island of Hawaii may have contributed to Delasin's disastrous round and the rest of the 132-player field, this being a little longer than most of the courses the LPGA campaigners were accustomed to playing.

Moodie and the big guns of the tour, however, bucked the challenge with the leader gunning down six birdies against a bogey for that 67.

But Karrie Webb, the hottest player so far with three straight victories, and LPGA Tour Player of the Year Annika Sorenstam lurked behind with similar 68s along with 1997 LPGA Championship winner Chris Johnson and Jill McGill, while a host of others are just a stroke or two behind.

For good measure, Laura Davies, who has four majors to her credit, is in a seven-player group at three-under 69.