Se Ri Makes History (cont.)

Finally the first day of the tournament arrived. As if Se Ri was not under enough pressure, she was paired with two formidable foes: the defending champion of the event, Yong-Eun Yang, and the KPGA's leading money winner, Yong-Jin Shin. This was like Annika being paired with Vijay Singh and Nick Price at Colonial, instead of two relative unknowns (although the two Korean gentlemen seemed a lot more friendly to Se Ri than those two PGA pros would have been to Annika, based on their comments). The weather was not stacking up in Se Ri's favor, either: it was cool, meaning her drives would not run as long, and the winds were tricky, constantly changing direction, making choosing the correct club for approaches particularly hard.

Se Ri and her first round playing partners

Se Ri makes a birdie early in Round 1

Of course, there is something that every fan of Se Ri has long accepted. And that is the harder the course, the tougher the conditions, the bigger the pressure: the better Se Ri plays. And so, despite these challenges, and despite the fact that she wasn't hitting every fairway and every green, Se Ri responded fantastically. Dressed in pink, and wearing a new hairstyle, a dual pigtail look straight out of Mi Hyun Kim's playbook, Se Ri played within herself, never trying to do too much to keep up with her long driving playing partners.

Right from the first hole, Se Ri was on fire. On this par five hole, where Se Ri had hit the 320 yard drive during her practice, Se Ri pitched her third to within 10 feet and just missed opening with a birdie. She quickly made up for it on the second hole, where she hit her iron to 40 feet from the hole, then hit a gorgeous breaking putt right into the cup to end the suspense and nab her first birdie. Unfortunately, she gave it right back with a bogey on the par 3 third, and struggled to another bogey on the tough par 4 4th, a 400 yard hole that is uphill all the way.

But the best was yet to come. Fast forward to the par 3 6th hole. One-hundred and seventy (170) yards, with a just about impossible pin position right in front of a very deep bunker, with a nasty break on the green so that you must be short to have any chance at birdie. Se Ri hit the shot of the front nine, a spectacular iron that landed on the fringe and rolled to two feet for an easy birdie. Both her partners ended up in the bunker and made bogey. The crowd went crazy, as you can imagine (and what a crowd it was; enormous, enthusiastic galleries followed Se Ri all week). She continued the solid play with pars on 7 and 8 (though she nearly made birdie there) and the short 9th hole. So she made it through her first nine holes in even par, with her partners at 3 and 4 over par already. And keep in mind that these are two of the top players on the KPGA tour. Se Ri was certainly living up to her reputation as a fighter so far.

Se Ri drives during round 1

It was a fantastic round on Thursday

On the back nine, Se Ri had a few moments of struggle, but still played calmly, confidently, and majestically. She parred 10 and 11, then got to the tough 12th, 13th, and 14th hole stretch. First she saved par on 12, with a great chip and 5 foot putt. Next Se Ri sailed her approach over water on 13 to 8 feet, then made the birdie to move back under par for the day! Se Ri had more trouble on the 437 yard par 4 14th, but scrambled, hitting a great chip when she missed the green, then saved par with a 6 foot putt.

The only big mistake she made came on the 587 yard par 5 15th. She hit two great shots to start, but flubbed her third, and ended up three putting for bogey. But she made no more mistakes after that, and amazingly finished her day at even par 72. Even more amazing when you consider that the leader of the tournament only managed a 4 under par 68. Se Ri's playing partner Shin matched her 72 (this is the money leader on the KPGA, remember), while the defending champion had a 7 over par result. Afterwards, Shin admitted that he was very impressed with Se Ri's course management, and said that 'there is something about a world class player'. Most impressively, Se Ri sat in a tie for 14th. Now the pressure was really on, for if she missed the cut after this incredible performance, it would definitely be a disappointment.

Se Ri and one of her playing partners talk during round 1