SAMANTHA 73 BUT KIRAN STRUGGLES WITH
77 IN LPGA Q SCHOOL ELIMINATOR

Samantha Head had a one-over-par 73 in the first round of the LPGA Tour Qualifying School Stage 1 tournament at Mission Hills, Rancho Mirage in California.
Former Curtis Cup player and last year's English amateur champion Kiran Matharu is back in a share of 106th place with a five-over 77.
Players are competing on both the Arnold Palmer and Dinah Shore courses at Mission Hills Country Club, playing each of the courses once before the 36-hole cut is made following the second round.
The final two rounds, which will feature the low 70 players and ties, will be played on the Dinah Shore course.
The top-30 players and ties at the end of 72 holes will advance to the LPGA Final Qualifying Tournament at LPGA International in Daytona Beach, Fla., Nov. 28-Dec. 2.
The Rancho Mirage qualifier is the first of the LPGA Tour's two sectional qualifying events in 2007.
The second LPGA Tour Sectional Qualifying Tournament is Oct. 2-5 at Plantation Golf and Country Club in Venice, Fla.
The top-30 finishers and ties from the Florida qualifier will join the California sectional qualifiers, current LPGA Tour members attempting to improve their status and the players who finished sixth through 15th on the final 2006 Futures Tour money list at the LPGA Final Qualifying Tournament.

FIRST ROUND SCORES
67 Amie Cochran.
68 Katie Allison, Kelly Lagedrost.
69 Nicole Hage, Jennifer Ackerson, Song Yi Choi.
70 Hannah Jun, Priscilla Duffield, Hwan Hee Lee, Lauren Todd.
71 Joanne Mills, Nontaya Srisawang, Jenny Suh, Rachel Newren, Tiranan Yoopan, Jaclyn Sweeney, Anna Rawson, Ashley Knoll.
72 Jana Peterkova, D'Rae Ward, Rachel Bailey, Benedikte B Grotvedt, Nikki Garret, Tiffany Tavee, Sarah-Jane Kenyon, Kim Welch, Amy Schmucker, Yani Tseng, Annie Young, Whitney Wade, Kelly Froelich.
73 Shayne Miyajima, Danah Ford, Bridget Keala Dwyer, Samantha Head (Eng), Amy Yang, Kristie Smith, Ashleigh Simon (SAf), Alice Kim, Lauren Espinosa, Helen Oh, May Wood, Sarah Oh, Yoora Kim, Seema Sadekar, Carolina Llano, Stacey Tate, Jenna Pearson, Emma Cabrera-Bello (Spa), Jennifer Greggain, Anja Monke (Ger), Nicole Melton, Ashley Gomes, Shanshan Feng.
74 Heather Angell, Stephanie Dukes, Taya Battistella, Walailak Satarak, Michelle Simpson, Ulrika Ljungman-Smith, Mindy Kim, Corina Kelepouris, Lori Atsedes, Pornanong Phatlum, Sarah Kemp, Louise Friberg, Shinah Ham, Catherine Matranga, Samantha Richdale, Cortney Reno, Krystal Shearer, Mary K Moan.
75 Yoo Lee Kim, Sukjin Lee Wuesthoff, Libby Smith, Erin Kerr, Jean Reynolds, Misun Cho, Jin Hyun Kim, Jeehae Lee, Chris Newton, Leah Wigger, Hanna Kang, Caryn Wilson, Hiroko Fujishima, Randi Meadows, Dana Je, Charlotte Campbell, Gerina Mendoza, Porani Chutichai, Marcela Leon.
Other scores included:
77 Kiran Matharu (Eng) (jt 106th).