Seol-An Ice!

On Friday, the weather got a tad better, and the scoring got lower. The one player who really took advantage was Cristie Kerr, who shot a 5 under 67 early in the morning to vault up to 8 under on the leaderboard. The rest of the day, the field tried to reel her in to no success. But though Kerr finished the day with a four shot lead and a big advantage heading into the final day, several other stars put themselves in a position to make a run. Grace was still having a frustrating time of it, and as of 16 holes had made no progress on par. But then she dunked a nifty putt from the fringe on 17, provoking one of her famous smiles, and followed that up with a birdie on the par 5 18th to end her day at 2 under, six shots back. Mi Hyun Kim continued her solid play, making only a single bogey all day, while collecting back to back birdies on holes 9 and 10. She ended the day at 3 under par, 5 shots out of the lead.

Seol-An Jeon once again put herself in the best position to catch Kerr by following her Thursday 70 with another 70 on Friday. 4 under still left her 4 shots back of the young American, but also put her in the final group on the final day for the first time in her career. No matter what might happen, she was bound to get some valuable experience.

Seol-An Jeon takes a moment during round 2 to collect
her thoughts

The final day saw the weather get a little tougher again, with unpredictable winds like before... and some added rain showers to mix things up even more. Kerr was looking strong, though, and as long as she kept playing solid golf, it would be very tough for anyone to make a move and catch her in these conditions.

But it might not have been entirely necessary, for Kerr has a fairly terrible record when leading an event going into the final round. Indeed, the only time she ever won in that position, she had a five shot lead... and still barely won the tournament, pulling it out on the last hole by one shot. That day she found herself most challenged by a young Korean player named Han. And this day, her biggest challenge would come from another Korean woman named Jeon. And this wasn't the end of the coincidences, either.

Gloria Park had the best round of the day Saturday,
and with it moved into contention

But first, the star players tried and failed to catch her. Grace once again struggled, finishing her day with a weak 74 that dropped her out of the top ten for the second event in a row. Still, a 15th place finish was hardly bad. It was another Park, Gloria by name, who made the biggest early noise. She roared up the leaderboard, as she does from time to time. She had started the day at one under, 7 shots out of the lead, but was three under on the front nine, and added another birdie on the tenth hole to move to 5 under. Though still well back of the leader, she must have known that Kerr might possibly fall back, and so she kept pressing. And kept getting results, with back to back birdies on 14 and 15 that moved her to 7 under par.

Mi Hyun Kim was also playing well, but was not able to make much of anything on the putting green. She could managed but a single birdie on the front nine, but also made no mistakes. She sat at 4 under for hours, trying to make that next move up the leaderboard. Finally, on the 17th hole, she missed the green, but just like Grace the day before, jarred a birdie putt from the fringe to move to 5 under. Alas, that was her final birdie, and she entered the house at that score. Now she could only wait.

Meanwhile, in the final group, things were still going well for Kerr. Though she wasn't making putts, she wasn't making mistakes, either, and like Peanut, managed a single birdie on the 9th hole to move up to 9 under. She followed that with birdies at 10 and 12, and just like that had moved to 11 under. Seol-An Jeon hung with her as best she could, making three straight birdies at one point, but by the 12th hole, Kerr still had a 4 shot lead. It looked like the event might be over quickly.

Gloria finally hit a bad shot on 17, and was not able to get the ball up and down from a long way from the flag. Her first and only bogey of the day, it left her at 6 under, where she finished the day. Not bad. She looked like she was a ways from having any chance of winning, anyway. But oh, later she would regret not squeezing out one more birdie on the par 5 18th hole, or maybe avoiding that three putt bogey on 17!

Jeon had a hard time making up ground on Kerr

Jeon celebrates a great putt with the gallery
(Reuters)

Hole 13 was Kerr's first bad hole. It started OK, and after two shots, she found herself in the greenside bunker. But she skulled her bunker shot well past the flag, and even her par putt did not get her very close. To make matters worse for her, Jeon was still closer than Kerr, only for birdie. But somehow Kerr drained a long bogey putt to avoid disaster. Still, Jeon made birdie and the gap was now two.

On the next hole, Kerr hit a terrible drive into the trees. Faced with a tree right in front of her ball, she was forced to punch out, and though she hit a good third shot, could not save par. Jeon did make par, and now the gap was one. And just like a scene from a movie, just like the disaster that almost koed her at the Longs Drugs Challenge in 2003, Kerr again made mistakes on 15, leading to yet another bogey. The score was now tied at 8 under par.

Where it stayed until Jeon hit a lackluster iron on the 16th and was not able to two putt from long distance. This dropped her one shot behind Kerr, and so they remained when they reached the 18th hole. After both hit not so great irons to the green, both missed their birdies. Jeon left herself with a longer putt, but nailed it, to her delight. She pumped her fist and walked off, happy with her 2nd place finish. After all, Kerr had only a two foot par saver; surely she was going to make that.

But she didn't! Cristie looked like she was going to breathe fire after missing that one, but she did make the bogey, and a playoff became necessary. Seol-An could scarcely believe it until her caddie confirmed that she had more work to do. It would be the first ever playoff for both ladies.