Hee Wonderful

I started following Grace Park on the 9th hole. She had only missed a couple fairways all day, and was playing pretty well by and large, according to a fan who had been following her all day. She stood at one under par at the turn, but was a bit more shaky on the back nine. After two pars to start, she hit two good shots on 12 to get within pitching range of the green. But then she pitched over the green into deep rough, and was not able to get it to the green from that deep lie. She ended up with an unfortunate bogey, just like Kang had. I had yet to see a Korean get a birdie on this very birdieable par 5.

Grace recovered from that on the 14th. After a perfect 3 wood off the tee, she hit her approach to 5 feet and made birdie. But then the wind started to act up. This caused her to miss the green short on 15, but she nearly made birdie on 16, and still was playing pretty decently if not up to her highest standards.

By this time, it had gotten quite dark, and when we reached the 17th tee, suddenly a loud thunderclap resounded through the course. Dave walked over and told us to take cover, they were going to blow the horn and stop play, and sure enough, seconds later they did just that. Shortly after the ladies got into a car and drove off, an enormous lightning bolt struck not too far away. At that point, everybody's pace quickened considerably! I'm seeing my life flash before my eyes. I can't remember: are you supposed to hide under trees during a lightning storm, or avoid them? Then the rains started pouring. This is very atypical weather for the Northwest. I made it back to my car intact, though.

They did eventually restart play, although not everyone finished. And after day one, Grace, Soo Yun, Jung Yeon, Young Kim, and several other players were in good shape. The lead was only 6 under, and there were still two more days to go. Two more days to end the Second Place Curse.

Grace watches her shot intently on Friday

Even playing the event of her life was not
enough for Christina to win the
State Farm Classic...

Ah yes, the Curse. You may wonder what that is. Golf is a strange game sometimes, in that weird patterns often develop that defy explanation. In the previous five weeks, a Korean or Korean American player had been in good position to possibly win a tournament, but each time, one player played just a little better, usually touching the Korean out at the very end. Thus, the Koreans had five straight second place finishes, and you had to wonder if they would ever get a trophy again. It all started with the Jamie Farr, where Se Ri Pak had a share of the lead until the second to last group came in on Sunday and Meg Mallon made a birdie to shut her out. Then, it was Hee-Won Han's turn. Taking a lead at the Wendy's, she ended up in a tie after regulation, only to lose on the first playoff hole. Then, at the Wachovia Classic, Grace Park had the lead going into Sunday. She had never before lost when having a lead, but this was to be the first time. She finished second to Lorena Ochoa.

Three weeks in a row was bad enough, but the Curse took on a truly bizarre character at the next event. Christina Kim played, quite frankly, the event of her life. She tied the tournament 18 hole record on Thursday, then broke the tournament two day scoring record on Friday. Her 23 under par final score would have been enough to win the State Farm Classic any other year. Not this year. She came in second to Cristie Kerr by a shot. She was five shots ahead of third place Mi Hyun Kim. What on Earth did the gals have to do to take one home???

The curse continued for a fifth straight week when Shi Hyun Ahn (the fifth different Korean in five events) finished second to Annika Sorenstam at the John Q. Hammons Hotel Classic. By now, even the Korean media had picked up on this theme, and were themselves wondering when it would all end and who would end it.

On Saturday morning, the weather was truly abysmal. Cold, rainy, and very windy, the wind chill probably made it feel like it was in the thirties temperature-wise. I regretted heartily not wearing something more insulated when I got to the course and it was pouring rain. Though the rain would come and go all day, it never got too warm. At least the ladies had the high tech doodads to protect them from the elements, but playing in that stuff; well, that was another matter. The scores ballooned. First round leader Brandi Jackson, who had shot a 66 on Friday, came back with a score in the 80s on Saturday. Others suffered similar, but less dire, fates.

Grace started on the tenth hole, bright and early at 7:30 in the morning She was wearing a red headband like Jennifer Rosales, who was her playing partner this day, definitely a new look for her. On closer inspection, it turned out to be a fancy looking Nike ear warmer, not a headband at all.

Despite the warm clothes, it took Grace a little while to warm up on this day. After a few pars, she lipped out a good birdie chance from 5 feet on the par 5 12th. Still waiting for that first birdie by a Korean player on this hole!! She then hit her tee shot on 13 in the wrong direction (she later told me she was trying to draw it to the hole but it didn't draw), and three putted for bogey. Back to even par total.

Grace made several more pars, and then I noticed that Hee-Won Han had moved to 5 under. So I decided to watch Hee-Won, and let Grace warm up a little more.

I caught up with Hee-Won on the treacherous par 3 8th. On this day, the flag was far right. The wind was howling, and the rain pelting down. You couldn't have asked for a trickier shot. Hee-Won striped her tee shot to one foot. Seriously! Tap in birdie to move to 6 under and a tie for the lead at the time. She would definitely be a force to be reckoned with this week! Little did I know what was yet in store!

She continued to kick butt on nine, with a great drive and a better approach. That provoked a big smile from her. But she missed the short birdie putt there. On this hole, I spotted her husband for the first time. He's Son Hyuk, a baseball player in Korea (actually, he has recently retired owing to a shoulder problem). He's a tall guy, maybe 6' 2" or 6' 3". He looked very nervous for his wife. By now the wind was blowing so hard I saw an old guy get blown off his feet near the green. It looked like footage of Hurricane Ivan, that's how bad it got at times. How on Earth can people play golf in this weather?

Hee-Won hit a bad spell after that, starting with a 360 degree lipout for par on the 10th hole. She followed that with a better approach on 11, but still missed the par. This knocked her back to 4 under. Then on 12, she hit a frankly terrible drive well left, but luck was with her and it bounced back into the fairway. She made par there, though.

Grace caught fire on Saturday, and moved
into contention. Was it too little, too late?
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Hee-Won plods on through the terrible
Saturday weather

The always friendly Christina Kim acknowledges
the gallery during round one.

Soo Yun Kang during the pro-am
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As I watched Hee-Won tee off on the 14th hole, who should happen by on the 3rd but Christina Kim and Gloria Park? At the time, Christina was also at 4 under, so I decided to follow her for a while and see how she would do. Unfortunately, she did not have too much luck while I was watching her. The lowlight came when she had an unfortunate lipout par from two feet on the fourth hole. She looked at the hole for several seconds as though she couldn't believe it had happened. Fortunately, she ended the day at 4 under par, one of the best totals, meaning she would play in one of the last groups on Sunday.

By this time, Grace Park had gotten her mojo back at last. She had moved up to 3 under par, and so I caught up with her on the 7th hole. I was in time to see her chip close on the par 5 7th and make birdie to move to 4 under. She struggled a bit after that, but ended her day with two clutch par saves. Afterwards, she told me that her putting had been her nemesis this week, but it finally had come back to her on the final nine holes of her day. She was confident good things were in store for Sunday. She was right.

How bad was the wind at this point? I went to watch Young Kim tee off at hole one. She hit her approach dead into the wind; I guessed she would need two more clubs than normal at least for her approach. But before she could hit her approach, several grounds keepers had to blow the leaves and pine needles off the green. Kim then hit it within four feet, but it was so windy that she had a hard time with her putt. She made par. But shortly after that, she made a bogey on 2 when she hit her ball in the bunker, and another on three when she hit her drive into the rough. This knocked her back to even par. At that point, I decided to follow Soo Yun Kang and Jung Yeon Lee for a while, but they were faring no better in the wind. Kang had already dropped two shots by the time I reached her on her third hole, the 12th. Neither player got birdie on this par 5. I was still awaiting the first birdie by a Korean player that I would witness on that darn hole.

I followed the two of them through 18, but not much more happened of interest. Kangsy did manage a great sand save on 16, though; she took roughly a minute to find a stance in the bunker, then hit out to three feet and made the par putt. Very impressive.

Meanwhile, Young Kim had moved back to 2 under par, so I rejoined her on the 10th hole. I noticed Kay Cockerill following the group, and figured (correctly) that they were being televised that day. Young managed a lot of approaches that were just far enough away to make birdie hard. She never had much trouble with pars, though, except on 13, where she inexplicably missed a par putt from 2 feet.

She stayed at one under until the 17th hole, where she hit a great drive and a superlative iron to about a foot, maybe less. Easy birdie. I was heartened to see this great shot made the TV coverage. Kim finished the day in a tie for 12th at 2 under par. (By the way, I made it onto TV while following this group. I appear behind Meg Mallon when she hits off the 16th hole. I'm the guy wearing the bright red jacket looking very cold).

By the end of Saturday, things were shaping up well. The leaders were Lorie Kane and Candie Kung, both tied at 7 under. But three Korean players were not far back tied for 6th at 4 under: Grace, Christina Kim and Hee-Won Han. Any one of those players was capable of going low on Sunday, and as it turned out, two of them would. Fireworks would happen!

Young Kim on Wednesday
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