Fairways and Greens

New Pics of Se Ri, Mi Hyun, and Grace!
Here are some great pictures of the Sisters for you this week! First off, the latest issue of Golf Digest (August cover date) has a feature about Se Ri Pak's game. Well, a few months ago, the LPGA published some 'behind the scenes' photos of the making of that feature. And here they are! Click on the thumbnails to see the full sized pics...

Mi Hyun at the Wendy's
Meanwhile, Mi Hyun Kim flew out to Columbus, Ohio, to appear at the pre-tournament press conference for the Wendy's Championship for Children. She, of course, is the defending champion. Well, it so happened that a Seoul Sisters.com fan was there, because his wife was acting as translator for Mi Hyun! Lucky us, because he then sent the pictures to me so I could share them with you. You know the drill: click to expand! And he promised me some more pics when he goes to the tournament itself! Coool...

Sukjin Lee-Wuesthoff Wins US Girls Championship
This year's US Girl's Championship was so full of drama that it merited network coverage. Of course, most of that was in the hopes that Michelle Wie would win the trophy, but she came up short, losing to Morgan Pressel in the 3rd round. But two other Korean players kept the faith. Last year's defending champion, In-Bee Park, continued her stellar play by again capturing the medalist honors, one shot ahead of Wie. She had little trouble reaching the semifinals, where she faced the top junior player in the game, Paula Creamer. But this time it was Park who came out on top. In the other bracket, a relative unknown named Sukjin Lee-Wuesthoff fought her way to the final. Lee-Wuesthoff, like so many Korean girls, came to America to pursue her golf career. She moved in with an aunt who was married to an American ex-serviceman. In order to facilitate immigration, they went so far as to adopt Sukjin, who then took on the name Wuesthoff in addition to her own. And thus, for the first time, the US Girls Championship had an all Korean final.

Star Ledger Photo

Park quickly asserted her dominance, while a shell-shocked Lee-Wuesthoff tried to overcome her nerves. "She was so nervous for the first few holes that she could barely talk, much less putt" her caddie said later. "She was ready to concede defeat."

By the 8th hole, Park was up 5, and seemed all but assured of the repeat victory. But then Park started missing fairways, and Lee-Wuesthoff started making putts. She hit ten footers to win holes 9 and 10, and by the 16th hole, she had clawed her way back to one down. On 16, Park was but 6 feet away for birdie, Lee-Wuesthoff in the rough. But she chipped to three feet and saved par, while Park missed two short putts and lost the hole. This was the critical turning point. On the next hole, Lee-Wuesthoff negotiated in a tricky breaking putt for birdie to go one up, which would be the margin of victory.

Congratulations to both girls! I may have to make a Sukjin Lee-Wuesthoff section on this website soon!

Han scores big at the Evian
Hee-Won Han would have been forgiven if, after her first career victory at the Sybase Big Apple Classic, she did what first time winners often do, and not play all that well in the next event. But nothing of the sort happened. The next event was the second biggest in the women's game in terms of purse, the Evian Masters, and Hee-Won did more than play well; she came close to winning. Just a few shots out of the lead going into Sunday, she and the rest of the field were dominated by an incredible performance from Juli Inkster. Still, Hee-Won got solo second, which won her the largest check of her career, more than $200,000. Also finishing well were Se Ri Pak, who continued her recent great play with a 6th place finish, and Soo Yun Kang, who on the weekend rallied from well back to post a 9th place result. Another player who looked poised for a top ten was Grace Park, who started terribly, but on the final day was 8 under coming into the par 5 18th. If she had parred she would have tied the course record, co-held by Se Ri Pak, and this hole was potentially eagleable, meaning even a 62, Grace's lowest career round, was possible. But her second shot landed in a terrible lie, where she was not able to advance it at all on her third, and by the time she was done, she got a double bogey to fall to 17th place. Still, her 66 cemented her rep as a player prone to great final day heroics. Congratulations to the ladies!

Moon Wins again on Futures Tour, and nearly for a third time as well
Meanwhile, 'small town girl' Soo Young Moon continues her stellar play on the Futures Tour. On July 27, 2003, she won her second event on the Futures Tour, the M & T Bank Loretto Futures Golf Classic in Syracuse, New York. You may recall she won the first event of the year, and though she has contended several times since then, had always come up just short in her bid for a second trophy. At this event, however, she was playing well, but by the halfway point of the final day was four shots behind the leader, Stacy Prammanasudh. Then a rain delay happened while Stacy's ball was in a bunker. When they continued play, Prammanasudh hit a terrible shot out and ended up with a double bogey on the hole. This allowed Moon to move to within two shots. On the next hole, a bad approach resulted in another bogey for Prammanasudh, and suddenly Soo Young was only one shot out of the lead. Soo Young took the lead for good on 16 when she dunked a 15 foot birdie putt while Prammanasudh bogeyed again.

The next week, it nearly happened again. She made a final round charge at the leader, Candy Hannemann, closing several times to within one shot. But her chances finally came apart on the 16th, which she bogeyed. Despite a bad case of nerves and problems with her drive, Hannemann hung in there and got her first victory, while Moon had to settle for second. Still, two top twos in two weeks: not bad at all!

For more info: http://www.futurestour.com/2003/Syracuse.html

Money List
Hee-Won Han made the biggest paycheck of her career, winning $200,000 and finishing second at the Evian Masters. This leapt her back into the top ten on the money list. She also has 7 top tens so far and is having her best season. Grace and Se Ri continue their great play. Se Ri fell briefly to 4th after Inkster's win at the Evian, but moved back into third with her second place finish at the British Open. Grace just won't go away, though, and her third place finish at that event allowed her to maintain her lead on Se Ri. Meanwhile, Young Kim notched her second top ten in a Major this year with a 9th at the British Open.