2003 Longs Drugs Challenge: Up and Down

Se Ri Pak has had an incredible run of golf this past few months. Ever since she walked off of the Pumpkin Ridge course in Portland after shooting the worst round of golf in her LPGA career, a fourth round 82, Se Ri has righted the ship in a most impressive way. She has had nothing but top tens since, eight straight coming into the Longs Drugs Challenge. And half of those were legitimate chances to win the tournament right until her last putt fell. But of those eight top tens, only one resulted in a trophy.

This may signal some kind of sea change in Se Ri Pak's game. In the old days, Se Ri did not contend very often, but when she did, she was more than even money to walk away with the trophy. Nowadays she seems to be in the top ten all the time; yet her percentage of wins has dropped a bit. Is this a good sign or a bad sign? Most certainly a good sign, I think. She has now raised the level of her game so that even a so so tournament results in a top ten, and sometimes even a top 5. When she puts it all together and goes on a hot streak, several wins may very well be the result.

Se Ri has had 8 straight top tens before the
Longs, including the British Open

Se Ri won the Longs Drugs Challenge
in 2001

Doubtless she was thinking that coming into the Longs Drugs Challenge, a tournament she has won before. But that was a different course: the tight, challenging 12 Bridges course. This year, they moved to a new course called Lincoln Hills. To put it frankly, it was not a very impressive track. It was out in the middle of some rolling land with nary a tree in sight. What there was plenty of, though, were houses; it was in the middle of a housing development on the outskirts of Sacramento. Since it was a relatively sudden decision to move it there, the course was not nearly prepared for a tournament of this caliber. Several holes had large ground under repair sections, and though it was a long course, the relative lack of challenge off the tee did not penalize wayward drives very much (although there was the occasional patch of bad grass if you were unlucky). This boded well for the long hitting Sisters such as Se Ri Pak, Grace Park and Jung Yeon Lee, and not surprisingly, those three players all factored into the final result by Sunday. Lastly, it was a brutal course for spectators; one fan told me it was an *eight* mile walk to follow a player for 18 holes. Ouch!

Se Ri won this event back in 2001, when it was played at 12 Bridges. In fact, this was the event where Se Ri ended Annika's four event win streak that year. She was certainly overdue for another win in 2003, and with her standing just two points shy of the Hall of Fame, no doubt she was extra determined to do just that.

Alas, on a course that was not pushing the players all that hard, Se Ri had one of her typical starts to a tournament. Seems her biggest problem these days is her inability to get out of the gate with a strong first round. On the other hand, she rarely has a bad one, either. Thursday at the Longs was no exception. She shot a one under par 71, which has almost become her standard start. The last few events, it seems like she always in the neighborhood of a 71 in round 1 (70, 69, maybe 72, but always right around there). This was only good enough for a tie for 29th, with the leader, Sophie Gustafson, sitting at 6 under after a 66. Furthermore, Se Ri's game was not very sharp. Her putting was off, and she missed rather more greens than she should have. Still, not a terrible start, provided she could step it up thereafter.

Se Ri during her practice round
Courtesy: Robert K

Se Ri makes an eagle during round 2
AP Photo/Rich Pendroncelli

Not only did Se Ri step it up in round 2, but she played like a woman possessed. Her second round score was the kind of score that quickly made up for any sins she may have had in round 1. By the time she was done, she had walked off with a stellar 64, the new course record. Despite a solid second round from Gustafson, Se Ri vaulted up the leader board past everyone, including Sophie, to move into the lead. Not often has Se Ri been in the lead after the second round this year. She was tied for the lead at the Ping after two, and went on to win that one. Furthermore, every time she had shot a 64 in an event in 2003, she had ended up collecting the trophy at the end of the week. Weirdly, all three wins in 2003 contained a 64 round. This might just be a great omen.

Se Ri was not alone among Koreans in the top ten, however. Jung Yeon Lee, thanks to leading the field in driving distance the first two rounds with a 283 yard average (sheesh!), was tied for 7th, five shots behind Se Ri. Grace Park had a very atypical two rounds where she was among the top five in driving accuracy (how often has that happened this year?), and was also tied for 7th. And so was Gloria Park. Granted, they had a long way to go to catch Se Ri, but now that Se Ri had shown a low score was possible on this course, she had to beware that no one threw one at her to overtake her.