2003 US Women's Open

The first day of the Open! And boy, was it a long one, as I followed Se Ri Pak for her entire morning round, then Grace Park for her afternoon round.

She was playing with Annika Sorenstam and Laura Davies the first two days, a pairing I was not looking forward to, as I anticipated huge crowds following Annika around. As it turned out, the crowds got bad on the second nine on Thursday and the first nine on Friday, but otherwise were much more manageable.

In the following review, I will describe the holes as we reach them. If you want a quick reference back to the course from later chapters, just check this section out! I will also be including my thoughts as I recorded them on the course, so you'll get to see the way the round developed from my perspective.

Se Ri tees off at the second hole on Thursday
Reuters/Steve Dipaola

Hole 2: This one is a 169 yard par three with bunkers along the left side. Again, not a terribly tricky hole, although the rough is not overly kind. Annika hit the flag in flight, and her ball rolled fifteen feet past. Then Se Ri then teed it up and hit it; her shot hit the green, rolled, and also hit the flag! Two hit flags in two holes for Se Ri, and two hit flags in one hole for Annika and Se Ri! Se Ri's shot ended up seven feet past, but she was not able to convert birdie. Weirdly, Laura Davies went third, did not hit the flag, but got closest and was the only one to make birdie on the hole.

Hole 3: This is a nasssty one. A par 4, 386 yards, dogleg right; don't miss the fairway, cause the green (which is elevated) is guarded by a creek in front and a hidden lake to the left. And hit it past the green and it's almost impossible to get par. Hit your tee shot left and you'll have an awkward stance; hit it right and there are deep fairway bunkers to contend with. Play time is over!

Everyone had trouble here. Se Ri hit her 3-wood into the rough, then her approach almost cleared the creek, hit a rock and bounced back 30 yards into the fairway. From there she hit a beautiful pitch that flew 20 feet past the hole, then rolled back to five feet. Clutch par save. Annika meanwhile hit her approach over the green and was not able to save par, and Laura Davies hit her approach into the water and got double bogey. So though Se Ri struggled, she got the best of the group on this hole.

Se Ri hits her approach on the third hole
AP Photo/John Gress

Hole 4: I call this one the bunker hole, as it gave Se Ri a lot of chance to practice her sand shots. A par 5, at 531 yards it is a relatively straightforward hole as long as you don't go too far right or left (there are plenty of trees over there). The green is two tiered, so it helps to hit the right section of the green on your approach.

Se Ri put her drive into the right fairway bunker, and hit it out, leaving herself a long 180 yard third shot. She hit a good one, but it landed in a greenside bunker on the right. She had a real nasty lie (she was up against the front edge). Could not do much with it, and her out went about twenty feet past the hole. Her par save stopped a foot short for a bogey. Annika ended up in the same bunker, but on her second shot, so she ended up with par, while Davies reached the green in two and two putted for birdie.

Hole 5: This is my favorite hole on the course, a 163 yard par 3 with water tee to green, a big bad slope past the green (with bunkers imbedded in it), woods to the right, and gallery to the left. No room for error. Today the flag was towards the front left, not really behind the water. Se Ri hit a wonderful iron that went left of the hole and drew back. It hit the fringe and rolled towards the flag, going about ten feet past. She left her birdie a foot short and made an easy par. Annika made her birdie from 4 feet, and Davies from 30 feet away also nearly made her birdie. So through five, Se Ri was a respectable one over par.

Hole 6: Another tricky par 4. 411 yard, it doglegs severely to the left. You pretty much have to hit 3 wood or less from here. The left side of the fairway to the green (after the dogleg) has a water trap, and to reach a flag positioned on the left requires a gutsy water carry to a green fronted by a wall rising from the water. Woods and nastiness behind the green. Today the flag was mildly tucked behind the water if your drive was not perfectly placed, towards the front right of the green. Se Ri hit a 3 wood nearly 250 yards, well past Annika (Davies was in trouble off the tee), to a perfect spot in the fairway. Se Ri's second left her in front of the green. This was where Se Ri hit her first truly terrible shot, a chip that she completely misjudged and left about four feet short of the hole. No par save here, as her par putt went two feet past and she had to work to make bogey. Thus, she dropped to +2.

Hole 7: A 559 yard par 5 where the tee is very elevated. The fairway is at times very narrow, and there are some deep woods on the right and big trees on the left. The green is smallish, and runs off the back into collection areas from which saving par is a major headache.

Another fantastic drive by Se Ri. Dead center of the fairway, and loooong. Her approach left her just 50 yards from the green. Excellent stuff. Her pitch landed near the flag but did not bite on the green, and rolled about 15 feet past. Once again she hit a lackluster birdie try and left herself a two footer for par; just long enough to give you gray hairs, but she put it in after a little work. Par.

Up until this point, I felt Se Ri was playing pretty well. I wondered if her wrist was affecting her chipping (it was still bandaged), and her one pitch didn't have the bite it usually does, but that could have been due to the greens, which were fast on this hot day.