NARITA, Japan, Oct. 25 (UPI) -- NARITA, CHIBA, Japan, Oct. 25 (UPI) -- Top seeded Annika Sorenstam of Sweden advanced to the second round of the $960,000 World Ladies Match Play Championship Thursday.
Sorenstam, a six-time 2001 LPGA winner, defeated Mineko Nasu from the Japanese LPGA, 3 and 2.
"I think I played very well," she said. "I missed one green and then did not make a lot of putts, but I felt like I hit the ball good and my putting was just on the edge on every hole."
Sorenstam will take on Michele Redman in the next round. Redman topped Kasumi Fujii, 2 and 1.
Five-time U.S. LPGA champion Se Ri Pak of Korea held off Michiko Hattori, 2 and 1. Hattori won three straight holes before Pak snapped the tie on No. 12. She faces Janice Moodie, who eased by Japan's Michie Ohba, 4 and 2.
This is the first match-play event in nine years for the LPGA, which called off last week's tournament in Jeju, Korea as a result of the military action taken by the United States and its allies in Afghanistan.
The 32-player field was comprised of 16 LPGA Tour players and 16 members of the Japanese LPGA Tour.
The event began with 16 head-to-head matchups between an LPGA player and a Japanese counterpart on Thursday. Each round will consist of an 18-hole match and the eventual winner will need to win all five rounds to take home the first-place prize of $144,000.
Lorie Kane cruised past Midori Yoneyama of Japan, 5 and 3, but Maria Hjorth of Sweden was upset by Yu-Chen Huang, 2 and 1.
The JLPGA's top-seeded player, Yuri Fudoh, fell to Jill McGill, 19 holes.
Other U.S. LPGA squad winners were Catriona Matthew of Scotland, Rachel Teske of Australia, Emilee Klein, Mhairi McKay, and Laura Davies of Britain.
Kaori Higo, Toshimi Kimura, Kaori Harada, and Aki Takamura advanced to the second round from the Japanese team.
The last match-play event on the LPGA Tour was in 1992, when Dawn Coe-Jones defeated Hall of Famer Beth Daniel to win the Match Play Championship at Waikoloa, Hawaii.
This is also the first time the World Ladies Match Play Championship is an official event.
