Chick-Fil-A 2003: Notes from Georgia

Grace back in form
Grace has had a few ragged tournaments since her two top five finishes to start the year. But she got things back into shape nicely at the Chick-Fil-A. Like most, she was affected by the weather, but still shot an excellent opening round 67 which left her just a shot out of the lead after the opening stanza. Unfortunately, she had a very uneven round on Saturday (keep in mind this was one of those days where she had to play more than a full round due to the rain). Still, she carded an even par 72, which kept her in 13th. Though her third round was not amazing, it was solid, a three under 69 that netted her her third top ten of the year. Congratulations, Grace!

Soo Yun Kang at the Chick-Fil-A,
final round
Reuters/Tami Chappell

Sisters all over the place
Meanwhile, there were Korean players all over the leaderboard, especially on the first two days. After the first round's completion, you had: Soo-Yun Kang tied for first, Grace Park and Young Kim tied for third, and unheralded rookie Young-A Yang tied for tenth with Mi Hyun Kim and Hee-Won Han. Unfortunately for her, Yang had a terrible second round and ended up missing the cut. Young Kim struggled a bit but had a respectable tournament, while Se Ri Pak and Christina Kim, who had been well back after the first round, both charged up the leaderboard on Saturday. In the end only two Seoul Sisters stayed in the top ten, but we got to see some impressive performances from many of them anyway. Watch out if the Korean rookies start to get acclimated to the American courses; they might start shooting even more great rounds like these ones!

Se Ri achievements
By winning her 20th tournament, Se Ri has become the third youngest in LPGA history to achieve this feat at 25 years, 6 months and 30 days of age. The youngest to win 20 was Nancy Lopez, who was 23 years, seven months, 26 days old when she did it. Karrie Webb was second youngest at 25 years, three months and five days, or just three months younger than Se Ri. Also, Se Ri's victory not only moved her to the top of the money list by $10,000 over the idle Annika Sorenstam, it also moved her up to 9th on the career money list, ahead of Laura Davies. The next person ahead of her is Rosie Jones, who is a little more than 200 thousand ahead of Se Ri as of the Chick-Fil-A.

Nancy Lopez congratulates Se Ri on her 20th win
Kimberly Smith/Atlanta Journal Constitution