In round three, Se Ri was paired with Annika for the first time this season. Her history the last few times they were paired was promising; in each case she had outplayed her, and two of the three times she had also shot the best round by anyone that day. The crowds following them were enormous, but unfortunately most of them were Annika partisans who knew little or nothing about Se Ri. Hey, a good opportunity to school them, right?

And things got off to a great start with a birdie. But on the par 5 third, her approach ended up in deep rough. She hit an amazing out, but lipped out a short birdie putt. After that, she started having problems with her accuracy again. Her 4th hole tee shot left her standing on the cart path for her approach; her tee shot on the par 3 5th was in a deep bunker (did not save par), and despite an approach into the trees and a weird third shot, Se Ri got the birdie on the par 5 7th. But a bogey on 8 left her even on the front nine.

The up and down stuff continued all day. She followed a great birdie on 11 with a brutal bogey on 12. At this point SayYou relates that Se Ri was looking very unhappy. Another frustrating bogey on 14, followed by a good eagle chance on 15 that just missed. The birdie returned her to even for the day.

Se Ri lines up a putt, round 2
Reuters/Brendan McDermid

Se Ri practices chipping before her round
Reuters/Brendan McDermid

Then came the one true ray of light all day. She finally hit a decent drive on 16. Her approach was good, but left her a ways from the hole. But lo and behold, she nailed a wonderful 40 foot birdie putt to move under par for her round. This hole had given the field a lot of great putts this week, including Grace's to move into the lead on Sunday and Kerr's nigh ridiculous birdie putt from about 60 feet on Saturday.

She played 17 well but just missed the birdie. On 18, both Annika and Se Ri bombed their drives. Se Ri had a routine par (with a shot at birdie, unrealized). Annika put her ball in such a place that she was forced to negotiate the weird plateau in the green to get it close. When she tried, she left her ball on top of the plateau and was lucky to make bogey. So in the end, the great duel was a tie, both ladies shooting 70 and positioning themselves 4 shots behind Grace Park, the leader.

This was a familiar spot for Se Ri: four shots out of the lead going into the last round, playing in the third from last group with Lorena Ochoa. She knew what she had to do: get a good start, put pressure on the leaders, and charge from there. But the early signs were not encouraging: her practice putting was very weak, while Grace was nailing everything.

Then the round started, and on her very first drive, she knocked the ball into a Christmas tree like bush. She walked in there, disappearing from view, and consulted with her caddie, finally calling for a ruling. After nearly 15 minutes, the official arrived, and Se Ri was forced to take an unplayable. She still got her third on the green, and nearly put a long putt in for par, but then missed her short bogey putt. She ended up with her only double bogey of the week, and right there her hopes to win were pretty much dashed.

Or so it seemed, for no one else was making a big move. But another bogey on 4, combined with failing to make birdie on the par 5 third, really left her in the hole.

Se Ri drives during round 3
Reuters/Brendan McDermid

On the tee for hole 7, SayYou reports that he noticed a flurry of movement from Se Ri. She took off her outerwear to deal with the warming temperatures, but then, on each ear, she affixed her famous rally earrings! All right! Se Ri was not about to give up, even though she was now six shots out of the lead. She stepped up to the tee on this par 5 and murdered the ball, even straighter and farther than the day she got the eagle on the hole. Her second shot left her in the short fringe in front of the green, but she was still not able to get eagle or even birdie. This seemed to take a lot of wind out of her sails. She was at 2 under for the week, and was struggling to even get into the top ten.

From there, however, things brightened for her. She would go on to hit all but two of the greens on the back side. She played the tenth hole perfectly for an easy birdie to move back to 3 under. But on 11, though she was but four feet from the hole for birdie, she lipped out and made par. Another makeable birdie on 12, but par. On 13 she was in great position, but again, missed it by the barest of margins. Par on 14, but a birdie on the last par 5 after a good eagle attempt.

Se Ri parred out and finished at 4 under for the week, five shots out of the lead. It was her only over par round of the tournament, but to her credit, it was only a one over par 72. She had fought back from her poor start with a moderately successful back nine, although she left more than a few birdies out there that she could have had.

Hopefully she'll be happy with her effort. Despite the fact her driving was very spotty, and her putting left her at inopportune times, she still notched another top ten, although Annika's very last birdie was enough to move Se Ri back to #2 on the money list (Annika finished 6th, her worst of the year). But Se Ri has a lot of time to rectify that situation, and from what we're seeing from her this year, she has what it takes to do it.