2003 John Q. Hammons Hotel Classic:
Living on Tulsa Time

Minny Yeo does it again
It's been a pretty good few weeks for the lesser known Korean players. Two weeks ago, at the Betsy King Classic, Sunny Lee achieved her career best finish, a 29th place. The next week, at the rain shortened State Farm, Minny Yeo answered with a 34th place finish, only one off her career best of 33rd. And this week, at the John Q. Hammons Hotel Classic, Minny showed that that was not a fluke by again playing well. She started her week with a 2 over par 72, then followed that with a 4 over 74 for a 6 over par total. Normally when Minny gets a good finish, it's because she starts out really well, then fades. Yet here, after two rounds, she was barely making the cut. It looked like a paycheck, but not much more for Minny. But give her credit. She came out in the third round, when players were having problems all over the course, and produced an under par round of 69. This vaulted her all the way from 61st place to 35th, again just a few notches shy of her career best. She collected another nice paycheck and moved her season total to over $27,000, also a career best, and 135th place on the money list. Minny will almost certainly have to go back to Q-School unless she can grab herself a top ten in the next two tournaments, but at least she's shown she is moving in the right direction.

Minny at the Giant Eagle Classic

Mi Hyun Kim has tried all sorts of tricks to
improve her putting, including using this
training tool, the 'Stubby', as her putter

Mi Hyun Kim still struggling
Whither Peanut? It's hard to understand how a top 5 player like Mi Hyun Kim can have so much trouble the year after her best season, but this is the situation Mi Hyun Kim finds herself in. In the past, she managed to collect a whole bunch of top tens every year, and perhaps a win or two as well. This year, however, she has only 4 top tens in 22 starts. Her 15th place finish at the Hammons is typical of her season. Decent for most players, but pretty lackluster for Peanut. Her big sore spot this year has been her putting. When a player like Peanut, who depends on a good short game, suddenly cannot find the bottom of the cup, slumps like this can occur. She has switched putters numerous times, including using the extremely small 'Stubby' putter for a while. She was back to a conventional putter in Tulsa, and it helped her to a decent finish at least. Perhaps returning to the site of a former victory, Portland, will energize her again.