2003 Safeway Classic: Friday (cont.)

Hole 16: A par 3. Her tee shot was to 25 feet. She hit a decent birdie try that went just a smidge too far. She then lipped out a par save of very short distance to fall back to 2 under.

Hole 17: Laura again hits her drive practically OB left, to an area where an 18 wheeler Safeway truck was parked. But it bounced off a tree back into the woods. She punched out, wedged to five feet and saved par. That Davies is one heck of a scrambler! Meanwhile, Kang hit a great drive but another so so iron over the green. She then hit a sweet sweet chip from a tricky lie to an inch. This was a real thing of beauty. Mark my words, if she gets used to playing in the US, we may have a fifth Sister before long.

I also noticed around this time that Soo Yun's mother was following her around. You could tell it was her because she looked very much like Soo-Yun, only shorter, and had a giant pink Astra umbrella (Astra being Soo-Yun's primary sponsor).

Soo Yun up close
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Mi Hyun Kim and her unique swing
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After this I went to briefly watch Christina Kim and Jeong Jang play holes 11 - 14. Christina was at one under at the time, but didn't seem to be in great spirits. I'm guessing that she was a bit frustrated with her game despite the fact she was in the top 20 at that moment. However, when she saw me, she said hi, and said she couldn't complain: 'What can I say, it's a beautiful day, I'm playing golf, what more could you want?' Indeed.

After that, I hung around the 13th hole to watch Mi Hyun Kim play (she was in the group behind Christina). Peanut, too, was playing really really well, so I got another treat. When I started watching her, she was at 3 under par, but the leaderboards said she was at 5 under par. I double checked with the sign carrier, who insisted that the scoreboards were wrong. And indeed, they eventually updated them to show the correct score.

The par 3 13th is one of the most beautiful holes on the course, a short hole with a ton of water fronting a tricky, undulating green. Mi Hyun hit a nice tee shot that just missed the green to the left. Had it been one foot more to the left, it would have rolled into the water, so she got lucky. But because the ball was off the green, she couldn't pick it up, and Nancy Scranton, her playing partner, came perilously close on a couple of occasions to kicking it while she was examining her own putt. Peanut made par eventually. On hole 14, though, she hit the jets with a great drive and an iron even better than the one Kangsy hit here, to maybe a foot. It was almost silly to make her do the birdie putt, it was that close. On 15, she was also close, maybe 6 feet, but missed that birdie. 16 was a routine par, and then at that point I decided to go find Grace. When I left Mi Hyun, she was tied for second place.

Grace and Se Ri were in the afternoon groups, so they had just started while the morning groups were still completing their play. In fact, the play in general was pretty slow all week in Portland. Grace was playing in the group right before Se Ri, so for much of the day I vacillated between following first one, then the other.

I located Grace on the par 5 5th. This is a great hole. It doglegs to the left around a big lake. Hitting it too far left is really bad unless you hit a huge drive (on the order of 300 yards). However, the more left you can keep your shot, the more distance you can cut off your second shot. Grace was already two under par when I found her on the 5th hole. She hit a short wedge shot to 8 feet, but was pretty annoyed, apparently thinking it should have gotten much closer. She still drained the birdie, and was thus at three under par after only five holes. And she had two very birdieable holes coming up.

Hole 6. This is a short par 4 with a somewhat narrow fairway and a small green. Grace was on fire. Great drive, and an iron right next to the hole for a fourth consecutive birdie. I gotta tell you, that was the third stiffed iron I had seen from three different Sisters today. And it wouldn't be the last! This is what I call a fun time!

I lingered briefly to watch Se Ri's approach. It was not too far from the hole, and had some nice action on it. But alas, she missed the birdie. Se Ri was only even par at that point, so I decided to stick with Grace.

Grace and her Friday outfit
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Grace had reason to smile on Friday: a 6 under par 66!
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Hole 8: This is a par 3 over water. Very tricky, with water on the right as well, and a nasty collection area behind the green. On top of all that, the green is pretty hard, too. Par is a good accomplishment here. Grace hit a nice tee shot on 8, then curiosity got the best of me, and I walked back to the seventh green to watch Se Ri. Her second had left her just off the green, but her chip shot still left her five feet short of the hole. But she made the birdie, and moved to one under par. A little hope, maybe?