Ahn Her Way

Fortunately, there was Shi Hyun. She did not get off to a great start in the first two rounds, but it was not a bad one either. She followed up a solid 69 with a so so 71, more than enough to make the cut. But it left her in a tie for 23rd at 4 under par, 9 shots behind Estill and 8 shots behind Sorenstam. A win seemed unlikely, but if she could rally, a top 3 was still quite possible; third place at the time was 8 under par, just four shots ahead of where she was.

Other players who were in a position to make some noise after two rounds were Gloria Park, who was tied for 10th; Jung Yeon Lee, who was tied for 16th, and Soo Young Moon, who was also tied for 16th at 5 under par. Moon had finished second on the Futures Tour money list in 2003 to earn her exempt card, but had had little success on the LPGA in 2004. However, she was a player who had a lot of promise, and as one of the youngest players on the tour (she was only 20), certainly had a lot of time to improve her performance in the big leagues.

Shi Hyun was pumped up in round 2

Shi Hyun shot the low round of the day
on Saturday

Round three was the round where Shi Hyun shone. She came out of nowhere to vault onto the leader board. It looked like it might be a case of too little too late, though. At least Annika was not playing all that well, but Estill was, and Ahn had hardly made any ground up on her. But then Estill started having problems, including a triple bogey on the 9th hole. After that, Shi Hyun found herself only a couple of shots out of the lead.

Shi Hyun would end up shooting a 6 under par 66, the low round of the day (she had a shot at 65, but her birdie on the last did not fall). This moved her to 10 under par and positioned her in the second to last group for Sunday. Estill hung in there and finished at 15 under, with Annika right behind her at 14 under. Despite Estill's tenacity, it still looked for all the world like Annika had her next win in her sights. But Shi Hyun could be proud of closing the gap to four shots behind her, and five out of the lead.

The only other Korean players anywhere near the lead were Jeong Jang and Soo Young Moon, who both stood tied for 11th. Gloria Park was tied for 16th at 6 under, but it would take a miracle to win. Realistically, only Shi Hyun had a chance among the Koreans to capture the trophy. She had done what she needed to do: get into one of the last groups, and move herself within striking distance. Now it was time to see if she could come from behind to win for the first time in her career.

The day started nicely for both Shi Hyun and Soo Young Moon. Moon in particular was on fire. She had finished her Saturday round with birdies on 12, 15, 17 and 18, and continued her hot play on Sunday with birdies on 2, 4, 5, 7, and 9. All told, if you had put those two nines together, that was an 8 under par 64. This moved her all the way up to 12 under par, and in great position for her first LPGA top ten and maybe even a top five. Annika and Estill had not played super well on the front nine, meanwhile. Estill was only one under par for the day after 9 and sat at 16 under par; she would bogey the 10th as well to fall back to 15 under. Annika had fallen all the way to 13 under and was tied for third at the time. Moon was still in it.

Shi Hyun also had a solid start, and sat at 13 under, tied with Annika for third. A wonderful approach on the 11th hole yielded another birdie to move her to 14 under. She was only one shot out of the lead with tons of holes to play.

On the 13th hole, Soo Young hit her iron well over the green, and her chip shot from there had barely reached the short grass. It looked like her progress was going to be halted, but she managed a wonderful par save from there to maintain her position at 13 under. Shi Hyun's progress was stalled, though, when she got to the par 5 12th hole. She could not reach in two, but hit a fantastic iron to two feet. Then she missed the short birdie! On 13, a long par 4, her bad luck continued. Her approach did not reach the green, and she chose to putt from the fringe. A mistake: the putt came up well short, and she failed to make par. She fell back into a tie with Moon. Still, she was only a few shots out of the lead. A great run on the next few holes could make all the difference.

Soo Young Moon had her best event yet
on the LPGA tour

Argh! Another missed short putt on
Sunday!

Moon played well the rest of her round, and had several more shots at birdie, but made nothing but pars until the end. Thus, her final score was 13 under: respectable, but not enough to win on this day. Still, it would be good for a tie for 4th, her best LPGA finish by a wide margin (her previous best was a tie for 18th). Shi Hyun still had a shot, though, but she had to start firing on all cylinders. After murdering her drive on 14 and leaving herself just 85 yards, she hit another nice iron and left herself just a few feet for birdie. But she was over the hole, and the ball did a power lip out, flying to several feet away. Then, disastrously, she missed the par as well, and that was pretty much all she wrote. By this time, Annika had finally started to pick up the pace, and had moved to 16 under. Shi Hyun was at 12 under, and even a perfect run on the last few holes would probably not be enough. A birdie on 14 would have left her just two shots out of the lead. But that's golf.

Still, Shi Hyun still had something to prove. On 15 she drained a birdie putt from 20 feet, then on 16 she hit another great drive, and her wedge approach landed right on top of the hole and danced all around there before settling less than 6 inches away. In a just world that would have been an eagle from the fairway, but she gladly took the birdie to move to 14 under par. 17 produced yet another great drive, perhaps too great, as she had only 65 yards to the hole and an awkward lie. She hit her approach too far and settled for par.