Yin and Yang

One of the year's most unlikely results almost came to pass this year at the Giant Eagle Classic, as one of the more obscure Korean players on tour nearly beat many of her more famous sisters to the punch by nabbing a win before them.

This tournament, which takes place every year in Warren, Ohio, and is a longtime mainstay of the LPGA tour, has fallen on hard times. It once attracted a fair cross section of the top players on tour. Its past champions include Se Ri Pak and Mi Hyun Kim, neither of whom attended the 2004 edition. Some great memories have come from this event for Seoul Sisters' fans. In 1998, Se Ri Pak made birdie on the final hole, and Dottie Pepper, playing in the group behind her, thought she had made par. So when Dottie missed her own birdie to tie, she believed she still had a chance to win. Nope, and Se Ri thus bagged her third win in four weeks.

In 2000, Se Ri looked for all the world ready to end a long winless streak as she waltzed into the final round here with a nice lead. Se Ri had never lost an LPGA tournament when she had the lead going into the final round. But that all ended when she stumbled on the back nine, and rookie Dorothy Delasin took advantage to claim her first win.

Peanut hoists the Giant Eagle trophy
in 2002

Se Ri lost the Giant Eagle in 2001 despite
having the lead going into the final day;
Se Ri has only done that twice, both
times at this event

Then in 2001, Se Ri looked poised to avenge that. Once again, she had the lead going into Sunday. The only time she had ever lost when in that position was still in the 2000 edition of this event. But once again she stumbled, and once again, it was Dorothy Delasin, of all people, who took advantage and claimed her second career victory, again at Se Ri's expense.

In 2002, Se Ri was nowhere near the lead, but another Korean player, Mi Hyun Kim, was. She had not won an event in nearly two years, but she had to battle another player with a long winless streak, Kelly Robbins, for this title. Finally, on the 17th hole, she looped a masterful 5 wood to within a couple of feet of the hole, made the birdie, and claimed the title.

Alas, in 2004, no Se Ri was to be found. Nor was Kimmie here. The event had the unfortunate luck of falling between the Canadian Open and the Evian Masters, two of the most important events on tour. Grace Park also took the week off to nurse her back, and Shi Hyun Ahn and Hee-Won Han were among the others skipping this year. In fact, almost none of the top players on tour were in attendance, (Pat Hurst at 18th on the money list was the top player playing), but that just meant there was more chance than ever for an up and comer to make some noise.

One player who has been quietly having a fairly good year is Gloria Park. She had already done well enough to put herself into the top 30 on the money list before this week, and her play on the first day of the event was nothing short of amazing. But it didn't look like it would be that way at first. She was very ill just the day before, and had thrown up the morning of the first round. To make matters worse, she also had a nagging wrist injury to contend with. But despite all that, she managed to get into one of her patented zones. Although she made her share of mistakes, including an unfortunate double bogey on one hole, she also notched an incredible ten birdies on the day. When all was said and done, Gloria held the first round lead after shooting a 66. If she could just avoid tossing her cookies, she might just contend!

Meanwhile, in second place was a far darker horse. Young-A Yang had surprised people by easily retaining her exempt card in her rookie year of 2003. But in 2004, her play had been far worse. Except for one good tournament at the Sybase Classic, she had not done much of anything of note in 2004. But her game was definitely working on Friday, as she shot a 5 under par 67 to take sole possession of second place, behind Gloria. It had been quite a while since two Korean players had topped the leader board at a tournament after a round.

Gloria tried to nudge the ball into the
hole in round one. It worked; she
made ten birdies!

Despite a lot of rain (a LOT), Young-A
Yang kept a share of the lead going
into Sunday

The second round was a rough one; bad weather caused numerous delays. Gloria in particular was not able to get much to happen. Her putter was not doing for her what it had done in the first round, and by the end of the day, she had slipped well out of the lead. Though she tried her best after that, she was not able to contend again. She would end up finishing tied for 29th.

Jung Yeon Lee and Seol-An Jeon looked like they might step it up, but they, too were unable to make significant progress. Jung Yeon has not had much success in the past few months, leading this reporter to suspect she may have had some injuries (she also has not attended many events lately). She did manage to just about finish her round on Sunday, but ended up withdrawing from the event anyway. It's not clear why, exactly, since she was only a few holes from collecting a decent paycheck. This may be evidence that something is very wrong with her; hopefully it is something she can recover from in quick fashion.

So that left Young-A Yang, and surprisingly, she kept up her great play a second day. By the time the cut was made, Young-A stood at 6 under par, and in a tie for the lead. For the first time, she would play in the final group on Sunday. How on Earth would she handle the pressure?

The answer is, very very well. In fact, with just five holes to go, she had managed to charge to 9 under par, and maintained a tenuous tie for the lead. Unfortunately, at this point, one of those things happened that you just can't plan for. Young-A was playing really great golf, but suddenly, someone came along and just made everything she was looking at. That someone was in the same group as Young-A, and like her, had never before won an LPGA event. Moira Dunn made three more birdies in the last few holes, while Young-A only made one. And just like that, with victory so close to her, Yang saw it slip away. Still, her final round 68 was one of the best rounds of the day. She had more than proved that she can handle the heat. It was just that someone had had a career day and stole the title away from her. It happens.

The hope for Young-A Yang is that the experience she gained last Sunday will translate into more success in her future. Her 2nd place finish was worth $92,000 to her, more than doubling her yearly take so far, and once again insuring her a tour card for 2005. With that pressure off, who knows what she will accomplish the rest of the year?

Young-A played quite well on Sunday; just not
well enough...