Top-Seeded Kung, Rho Eliminated

Fountain Valley’s Candie Kung, the top-seeded player in the field, lost in the quarterfinals of the U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship Thursday in Owings Mills, Md.

Kung lost to Lorena Ochoa of Mexico, 4 and 2, on the second day of match play. Kung defeated Erin Tone of Gilbert, Ariz., 4 and 2, in a third-round match earlier in the day.

Fullerton’s Angela Rho lost in the third round to Naree Wongluekiet of Bradenton, Fla., 3 and 2.

Kung, who had made only two bogeys in her first three matches, carded six in her loss to Ochoa.

“I played really, really badly,” Kung said. “Bogey, bogey, bogey, and that is how I lost.”

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Brent Geiberger, riding the momentum of his first PGA Tour victory, shot a seven-under-par 65 to take the first-round lead in the Buick Open at Grand Blanc, Mich.

“I feel pretty calm and confident out there,” Geiberger said, despite occasional dizziness stemming from a nerve problem in his left ear. “I can be standing there and feel like I’m moving. It’s pretty tough to putt.”

It wasn’t so tough that Geiberger couldn’t run in seven birdie putts, the longest from 15 feet.

Tom Kite posted one of his best rounds in a dismal year, a 66 that left him a stroke off the lead.

Kite’s last victory came in 1993 when he won the L.A. Open. In 1998 he was unable to gain a top-10 finish for the first time in his 26-year career. This year the slide continued and Kite missed eight cuts in his first nine tournaments, with only one round in the 60s.

Esteban Toledo of Irvine was five under on the back nine and also finished with a 66.

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Marilyn Lovander, buoyed by a hole in one, and Mardi Lunn of Australia tied the course record with six-under 66s to share the first-round lead in the LPGA areaWeb.Com Challenge at Sutton, Mass.

Play was delayed for 2 hours 19 minutes by thunderstorms, but the entire field was able to finish.

Dottie Pepper, Jackie Gallagher-Smith and Caroline Blalock were at five-under 67.

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Steve Conway of Irvine shot one-over 73 and finished second at the AJGA Southwestern Junior tournament at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. Bryan Holub of Higley, Ariz., shot 69 and wound up one shot ahead of Conway, who entered the final round tied for the lead.

Notes

Caddies will be allowed to wear shorts next week in the PGA Championship at Medinah, Ill., if the heat index is over 100 degrees, the first time the PGA of America has allowed shorts in its premier tournament. . . . The 2004 U.S. Open will be played at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club in Southampton, N.Y., the USGA announced.