Hall of Fame Day

Se Ri Pak has been a sensation from almost the moment she entered the LPGA. But even before she joined, one of her biggest goals was to someday play well enough to enter the most august organization in the sport, the LPGA Hall of Fame. Unlike the Halls in a lot of other sports, you don't have to be retired to get in, nor do you have to be voted in. If you play well enough, you qualify.

But it must have seemed like a long, tough journey when she qualified for the tour shortly after her 20th birthday in 1997. Back then, the qualifications for the Hall were even more stringent than they are now. In those days, you had to win at least 30 times if you had won two or more Majors; win 35 times if you had won 1 Major only; or win 40 times if you had not won a Major (but would need to have a post season award like Player of the Year or the Vare Trophy for low scoring average). These qualifications were tough but fair back in the 50s and 60s, when there were really only a few players who consistently won most of the time. But by the late 90's, the tour had become so deep that none but a very few players had a chance of getting to those lofty heights.

Thus, they changed the qualifications to a new, point based system. Now, every win gained you a point, every Major win two points, and a Vare Trophy or Player of the Year one point each. When a player collected 27 points, she was in, provided she had also played ten years on tour. Annika Sorenstam and Karrie Webb were two players who had to wait after amassing enough points, because they had not been on tour long enough when they surpassed 27 points.

It was a long journey to get to this point
for Se Ri
(AP Photo)

Grace was the defending champ

Coming into the Michelob Ultra at Kingsmill, Se Ri had collected 26 of the 27 points she needed for Hall entry. Thus, one more win would be enough to get her through. She had done this with 17 normal wins (17 points), four Majors (8 points) and a Vare Trophy last year (1 point). But 2004 had not been a strong year for Se Ri up until now. She had notched three top tens, but nothing better than a 5th place finish. She sat 14th on the money list, well behind where she usually was by this time in a season. Could she find her game and make her move?

Certainly, if there were ever a good time to finish well at a tournament, the Michelob Ultra was it. Though it's only two years old, it is already the third most lucrative event on tour. Once upon a time, Michelob hosted a PGA event at Kingsmill in Williamsburg, Virginia. But the event proved to be sparsely attended by the top players, and so in 2003, Michelob decided instead to sponsor a women's event. The $1.6 million purse they offered instantly made it one of the top events on tour, and it didn't hurt that it was played at a great course with top notch facilities. The ladies responded; almost every top player showed up, and Grace Park won it in a thriller with a 20 foot par putt on the 18th hole. This year, Michelob was so happy that they boosted the purse another $600,000, turning the event into a cash grab for those who could finish well. Se Ri could easily make up a ton of ground on the money list if she could win or finish well here.

But on Thursday, she did not play all that well. The rough was deep, the course longish, and it looked like scoring would suffer. But that turned out not to be the case this day, and with soft greens allowing birdies to be made, it was necessary to make a few to stay with the leaders. Se Ri finished day one with a one under par 70. It looked promising at first, though. She went out (she played the back nine first) in 2 under par, then followed a bogey on 2 with yet another eagle on 3 (her league leading 5th of the year). But she ended her day with two bogeys on the last two holes to finish at one under, good for 22nd place.

Meanwhile, defending champ Grace Park got off to a typically mediocre start in her only title defense of the year. (Interestingly, before this event, Grace had never actually played a title defense at the course where she had won the previous year. In all three previous cases, the tournament either ceased to exist after she won it or moved to a different place entirely). She shot a one over par 73 which put her in a tie for 46th.

Fortunately, some other Korean players were making more noise. Chief among them was Soo Yun Kang. Kangsy has been poised to breakout on tour, especially now that she has a little experience traveling and living in America. But 2004 had been a let down to date. That is, until she got to Kingsmill. After an OK start on her first nine (the back nine), she caught fire with her irons, hitting one wedge after another extremely close for easy birdies. She also nearly made a hole in one with her 7 iron, and was asked if she had ever made one in competition. She replied affirmatively, and joked about the prize she won. "I got (a) car . A Ford... but I upgraded for the Lincoln." Her final score was a 66, which left her all by herself in the lead.

Se Ri digs one out from the rough during
round 1

Soo Yun Kang had a great start to her week

On Friday, the scoring was still pretty good, but this time, Soo-Yun was not able to make much headway. She had three birdies and a bogey on the front nine, but only made a single bogey and no birdies on the back, and thus finished with a one under 70 for the day. Roaring to join her at 7 under was Christina Kim, who followed up a Thursday 68 with a Friday 67. They both stood tied for the lead most of the day.

Several other Korean stars moved themselves into position as well. Included in that group was Hee-Won Han, who has really struggled in 2004 to get anything to happen. But her game is starting to come around, and her two day total 69-68 left her at 5 under par. Jung Yeon Lee joined her there following a second round 66 abetted by a driving average close to 300 yards to that point.

But the two players you would most expect to make moves were struggling. Grace Park could not seem to get anything to go her way. Last year, she had won the tournament despite a number of rollercoaster rounds during the week. She had another such round on Friday, with a double bogey on the 4th hole bookended by birdies on 3 and 5, and an eagle on 7 followed by a bogey on 9. In all she shot a respectable 2 under 69, but that still left her well back of the pack.

Se Ri, too was growing increasingly frustrated. Her day ended in a way that typified her luck. She hit a great drive on 18, but ended up with a dicey downhill lie. She hit a nice approach, but the ball stopped on the edge of the plateau, waited, then rolled all the way off the green. Her first pitch reached the top of the plateau, then rolled all the way back down. She made bogey and shot even par 71 for the day. She was now at 1 under total.

Kang and Kim, however, would not finish the day in the lead. That honor went to little known American Kim Williams, who had the round of her life, shooting an 8 under par 63, the course and tournament record, to cruise to a 4 shot lead at 11 under total. If she could hold on, that might be a hard number to beat. But Williams had almost never been in this position before, so most expected that she could come back to the field.

Christina Kim in round one