2003 Year in Review

October

Longs Drugs Challenge: Second Times Three (October 2 - 5)
Hee-Won Han had already won two of the three tournaments she had finished second at in 2002. This was the other event where she had done that, but in 2003, she was never able to get herself into contention. However, several other Korean players did. Se Ri got off to her usual slow start, but in round 2, played brilliantly, shooting the low round of the day, a 64, to move into the lead at 9 under par. Grace was way back at that point, but she moved up to 9 under on Saturday while Se Ri stalled at 10 under, and Jung Yeon Lee moved up to 10 under as well. The leader was Helen Alfredsson at 11 under.

When Se Ri is so close to the lead, she rarely does not come through on Sunday, but this time, she struggled mightily on the front nine, dropping all the way back to 8 under. But then she rebounded again with a bunch of birdies to vault back to 12 under. The leader was at 14 under, and it looked like Se Ri was out of it, but if she could at least get to 13 under, she had a chance. She could not. As it turned out, 13 under was the winning score. Grace, too, could not reach 13 under. Jung Yeon Lee had a birdie putt on the last hole to move to 13 under, but just missed, and had to settle for her career best second place finish, tied with Se Ri and Grace.

Grace looked quite fetching in this Nike
outfit from the Longs Drugs Challenge
Courtesy: Robert K

Se Ri in the sand

Samsung World Championship: Taking Korean Money (October 9 - 12)
Se Ri Pak got off to a great start this time. By the second round, she was at 7 under par, two shots in the lead. Grace, as usual, was just behind her at 5 under par. But though Se Ri had a good third round, it was not good enough, and Rachel Teske slipped into the lead by one shot on Saturday.

On Sunday, Se Ri just didn't play well, and for the second week in a row, was not able to win when just one shot out of the lead. In fact, it was Sophie Gustafson who won, after shooting a 64 and surviving several rules controversies along the way. Grace finished 7th.

The Jan Stephenson Comments
Undoubtedly the biggest brouhaha of the year was started when ancient Australian veteran Jan Stephenson opined that the Asian Players were 'killing' the LPGA tour, because they were bad with pro-am partners, snuck out of pro-am parties, and refused to speak English even though they could. These comments were ironically made public during the Samsung tournament, an LPGA event sponsored by a Korean company. Needless to say, the comments were quickly and roundly condemned. Annika Sorenstam called them 'pathetic', Grace Park pointed out that she has 'great emotions', and Se Ri Pak hoped that she was kidding (later, Se Ri was much more forceful, saying that she took the comments 'very personally' and adding, 'She should realize that just because of her naive comments, all that the tour staff and the players worked for during the year went down the drain').

For the Seoul Sisters Magazine rebuttal to Jan's comments, click on this here link.

Meanwhile...

Pink is for girls... But girls can make the cut
against the boys!

SBS Super Championship: History in the Making (Late October)
Several months before this, there were rumors that Se Ri Pak was planning on playing in a Korean PGA event. That's right, the men's tour. A few weeks before it actually happened, the news was confirmed, and the Korean media went into a tizzy. Se Ri was put under an intense media microscope; her every preparation was covered in the papers.

Se Ri did not disappoint. On a 7050 yard course, in cool and windy conditions, she managed to shoot an opening round 72, which put her into 13th place in the tournament. 13th place!! Now the pressure was on, for if she could just produce one more good round, she could become the first woman in 58 years to make the cut in a men's event. And despite some struggles, she did it again: a 2 over par 74 that was more than sufficient to get the job done.

Then the fun really started. Not even playing as well as she could, missing a bunch of short and makeable putts, Se Ri put together a 69-71 weekend to end the event at 2 under par in a tie for tenth.

Click this link to read all about this momentous achievement; you darn well won't hear much about it from the American press otherwise.

CJ 9 Bridges Classic: Cinderella and the glass golf cleat (October 31 - November 2)
Se Ri won the inaugural CJ 9 Bridges Classic in 2002, and came back to her homeland eager to defend. But her thunder was stolen the first day when a virtually unknown KLPGA player named Shi Hyun Ahn tied Se Ri's tournament record 65 and took the lead by one shot over Grace Park. Se Ri managed a decent 69. The conditions were tougher in round 2, but Shi Hyun hung in there, and by the end of the day, she had a three shot lead over Se Ri, who was tied for second with Laura Davies.

Se Ri had had a number of chances to win events this year from only a few shots back, and had not converted. But this time she was facing an untested young player (Ahn was 19). Surely she could get the job done? No, for though she closed to within one shot on several occasions, Ahn kept coming up with the goods, and ended up winning by three shots. Se Ri finished second... again.

Ahn's win made her a media darling in Korea, as well as giving her a two year pass to the LPGA tour (nonexempt in 2004, exempt in 2005).

Shi Hyun Ahn, overcome by emotions on
the 18th green

Q-School finished!
The LPGA's qualifying school finished on October 24th, and thus the roster of Korean players qualifying for next year's tour was complete. Here are the players and how they finished.

5. Aree Song: Song, who is half Korean and half Thai, received a special exemption from the Commissioner of the LPGA to become a rookie even though she is below the minimum age of 18; she turns 18 in May of 2004. Aree finished two shots out of the medalist spot, at 6 under par.

12. Seol-An Jeon: A Futures tour stalwart, Jeon shot rounds of 72-72-71-68 to finish at 5 under. Jeon will be a rookie next year.

17. Il Mi Chung: One of the top players on the KLPGA tour for the last few years, Chung had said she had no interest in trying out for the LPGA, but apparently changed her mind.

These players retained nonexempt status on tour:

Hyun Soon Park, Jinnie Lee, Sunny Lee, Jimin Kang

Among the players who failed to retain any card on the LPGA next year were Ara Koh, who withdrew from Q-School after two weak rounds (the cut at Q-School is after the third round), and Minny Yeo.