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This left Hee-Won, who was still at 11 under as she reached the par 5 15th. However, here Kung hit a bad drive and was forced to punch out, and Hee-Won managed to reach the green in two. She had a long eagle putt, and though she left it three feet short, had no trouble making the birdie. Rosales, too, birdied, but Kung did not, and the momentum turned ever so slightly. Then came the death hole, the par 3 16th. Rosales went first, after the group waited some fifteen minutes for the green to clear, chattering amiably all that time (it's always nice to see that Hee-Won is getting along with her fellow pros, especially the ones near her age). Rosales proceeded to hit one of the worst shots I've seen in a while, a horribly chunked iron that didn't come close to clearing the water. Han had to be a bit intimidated having just witnessed that disaster, and she subsequently hit a very safe iron to the far side of the green. Kung then went, hitting her iron perhaps a bit more right than she would have liked. Fortunately for her, she just cleared the water and was safe. Rosales then went a second time, but weirdly, instead of re-teeing, decided to take a drop but five yards ahead of the teeing area. This proved a bad idea, and her second shot, too, found the water. Jenny would end up with a quadruple bogey that permanently ended her threat for the trophy. |
Hee-Won had a lot of fun in the sand on |
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From where Hee-Won had hit her tee shot, she was not able to two putt, and Kung did manage her par save. As a result, Hee-Won was again three shots down. But after a par on 17, she managed one more bit of magic, a chip in birdie on 18 that again moved her back to 12 under. Since Kung had not been able to birdie the remaining two holes, that left Hee-Won in third with a great chance to not only win the tournament, but the Series as well. Sunday proved to be rainier even than the other days. They had everyone start two hours earlier in the vain hope the players would miss the worst of it, but the rain came down and down. Se Ri knew she would need to carve a few strokes off Han's lead to win the Series, and that Grace, too, could possibly take it with a good round. She was also six shots behind Kung, a not insurmountable lead. But when Se Ri finally started, she immediately bogeyed her first hole to drop back to 13th. |
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Young Kim got a few holes done Sunday, but most barely started |
Alas, not much more happened. The rains got so bad that, shortly after the lead group had hit their first tee shots, they were called off the course. They waited for several hours before it became obvious that the weather was not going to improve enough to enable the event to conclude. And thus, the officials negated the results of the fourth round and made the event a 54 hole one. This was the first time this had happened since 1997. Thus, Se Ri was moved back to 9th, and Kung suddenly had her third win of the year. Who knows how things might have been different had the event been allowed to continue, but that's golf. | |||
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Even more painful for Se Ri (and surprisingly great for Hee-Won), Hee-Won's finish was *just* enough to enable her to surpass Se Ri and take the Series title. How close was it? If Se Ri had finished even one stroke higher, she would have won the Series. That two foot lip out birdie on Friday was the difference between first and second in the State Farm Series. Se Ri did finish second, Kung third and Grace fourth. A bit of a disappointment again for Se Ri, who had led the Series practically all year and probably expected she would take home the big check. Still, the results were good for all three Sisters. In the event itself, Han made her tenth top ten of the year and incredible 5th top three finish in the last six starts (a third). Grace nabbed another top 5 with a tie for fifth, her 12th top ten of the year. And Se Ri got her 13th top ten of the year with her 9th place result. But it was Hee-Won who had the last laugh. On Sunday, she was even interviewed on ESPN's coverage, a first! She did quite well answering the questions, too. It's great to hear her speaking English. And then she got interviewed a second time when they presented her the State Farm Series check, and once again she was humble and sweet, admitting she had not expected the bonus win to happen. Good thing she's gotten some practice hefting big checks in recent weeks; it doubtless made the task less strenuous. |
Hee-Won holds her Series winning |
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