Battle of the Stars

On Saturday, Shi Hyun Ahn made her move. She played bogey free golf and managed five birdies to shoot a 67 and vault into a tie for the lead. The player she was tied with? Grace Park! Grace made three birdies on 4, 8 and 10, before back to back bogeys derailed her somewhat. She made one more birdie and finished the day with a 2 under 70, good for the tie with Shi Hyun at 5 under par.

And what about Se Ri? She did not get off to a good start, including a double bogey on the par 5 4th and a bogey on the 5th. But she rallied, finishing her day with 6 birdies and another 2 under par 70 to match the one from the first day. This left her at 4 under par, just one shot out of the lead. But unfortunately, she was in 4th place, thanks to Yoon Joo Young, another young KLPGA player who was tied for the lead with Grace and Shi Hyun. Meanwhile, the first round leader, Seo Jae Lee, shot a two over par 74 and dropped to 8th place.

So on Sunday, the drama could not have been higher: Grace and Shi Hyun in the final group, Se Ri in the group ahead of them. All three with a great chance to take the trophy.

Shi Hyun Ahn in round 3

Se Ri looked great but played poorly on Sunday

On Sunday, one of the three players struggled almost immediately and was never able to fully recover. That player, alas, was Se Ri. Apparently still not over her ailments, they finally caught up with her, and after bogeys on the fourth and fifth holes, she never really threatened again. She ended up with four bogeys and two birdies on the day, a 2 over par 74. Afterwards, she told the press she wished she had one more day to show the fans in Korea a "better game".

But the other two Korean stars duked it out until the bitter end, each with a great chance to claim her first KLPGA trophy (keep in mind that Grace did not grow up in Korea, and thus had not played the KLPGA tour as a youngster, while Shi Hyun Ahn was a winless rookie on tour when she won the 9 Bridges and thus qualified for the LPGA). Grace was the player who struck first, with four birdies over the first ten holes to move to 9 under par. In that same span, Ahn made all pars until the 9th, where she at last made a birdie. By that point, she was three shots back and looked out of it.

But then Grace made a mistake, and it was a biggie. On the par 4 11th, she hit her drive out of bounds, and wound up with a double bogey that reduced the lead to one. Ahn then birdied the 12th hole to tie, then the 14th to take a one shot lead. Now it was Grace's turn to sweat.

Still, Grace was playing quite well, and was not too worried. Ahn still believed that Grace was going to pull it off, and never felt like she had the momentum during most of the round.

Grace had her chance on the 16th hole but missed a short birdie putt. Then they reached the pivotal 17th hole. Here Ahn had a long birdie putt, something like 20 feet, while Grace sat about 5 feet from the hole. But Ahn putted first and drained her birdie to move to 9 under par. Now the pressure was on Grace: she had to make the short putt to stay in it. And she missed it!

Even with a two shot lead, Ahn was not ready to celebrate. The last hole was a par 5, and Grace certainly could make birdie there, maybe even eagle. Ahn needed to clinch the victory in style, and she did exactly that. Only when she stood over her final birdie putt did she begin to think she had the event won. And indeed, Shi Hyun made that birdie, while Grace parred. Thus Shi Hyun Ahn finished at ten under to claim a three shot win over Grace Park, who finished second. It was another brilliant finish much like the one she had managed to win the 9 Bridges tournament, and showed she was ready to assume her mantle as one of the top Korean golfing prospects.

Victory!!

Whew! Glad that's over!