Seol-An Ice!

The playoff would turn into an absolute marathon, the longest sudden death playoff I have ever witnessed. It started on the par 5 18th, and Seol-An Jeon got honors. She hit a perfect drive, while Kerr put hers into the rough. Kerr laid up OK, but her third ended up in the fringe. Jeon hit a great layup herself, and deposited her wedge within 6 feet of the hole, in perfect birdie position.

The pressure was on Kerr, but she could not make the birdie. So now all Jeon had to do was hit a fairly straight putt, and suddenly, improbably, her first career LPGA win would be hers. Alas, though she hit it straight, she misread it, and ended up just missing. On to the second hole.

And the third. And the fourth. The advantage seemed to swing back and forth, but Jeon by and large looked stronger. On the fourth playoff hole, the par 3 17th, neither player hit good irons, and both left themselves very long par savers. Jeon's was something like 15 feet, and it looked for all the world like she would be through, but she nailed it beautifully, putting the pressure back on Kerr and her 6 footer. But Kerr made that one, and it was on to the fifth playoff hole.

Jeon got a helpful hug from her dad after the grueling
round was over

Seol-An Jeon has become a player to watch

They went back to the 18th hole, and once again, Jeon ended up with a good birdie opportunity. And once again, her try skidded just past the hole. How much longer could she keep giving Kerr new life before Kerr rose up and won this thing?

Jeon's luck finally ran out on their 7th playoff hole, the par 4 16th. Her drive found the rough, and she tried to reach the green on her second with a five wood. This was too much club, but she did not have an ideal club, a 7 wood, and felt her 3 iron would not allow her to clear a greenside bunker. As you might expect, her shot carried the bunker and the green and left her in a nasty position. She knicked a tree on her third shot and did not reach the green, and her fourth shot sailed 50 feet past the hole. Even though she made a good 5th shot, it was too little too late. Kerr easily saved par and walked off with her second career win, albeit in a somewhat more laborious fashion than she had hoped for.

Still, Jeon had much to be proud of. Her second place finish leaped her from 54th to 14th on the money list. She had just participated in the second longest playoff in LPGA history, behind only a 10 hole playoff in 1972. And most of all, she had finally shown the world that, even among the surfeit of amazing Korean talent on tour, she was somebody to reckon with.