2005 Office Depot Championship

A few dark horses also rose to the occasion on day one. Jimin Kang had won earlier in the year, but had not accumulated a lot of great finishes since then. She started this event with a 3 under par 68, though, and looked like she was back to her former ways. Sarah Lee, who sat at 92nd on the official money list coming in, also shot a 68, tying her best round of the year to date.

Hee-Won played in the afternoon wave, and did not finish her round until very late. But it was worth the wait, for by the time she was done, she had shot a 6 under par 65 and grabbed a share of the lead. This came courtesy of a great start, where she birdied four of her first five holes. She wound up with six birdies and no bogies on her card. Her work with her coach had clearly paid dividends.

Hee-Won on Friday

Hee-Won kept playing well in
round 2

As if the slow play wasn't enough of a problem, Saturday morning started with a weather delay. In this case, the problem was fog so thick that you couldn't see where your ball was going when you hit it. The fog took three and a half hours to burn off; only then were they able to finish the first round. Thus, the second round did not start until four hours later than intended. The result was that those playing in the morning rounds were able to complete their second rounds, but those playing in the afternoon rounds (more like evening rounds) could only get part of their rounds done. This would prove to be quite an advantage to those who played in the morning rounds.

Hee-Won was one of the players who had this break. And she made the most of it. Starting on the tenth tee, she quickly birdied three of her first five holes to move to 9 under par. Since the other players who were at 6 under par after the first round would not be playing until later, she thus had a two to three shot lead most of the day. She finally made her first bogey of the tournament on the 16th hole in a most unusual way. Her approach was not that close, but she still made a great birdie putt. But as it made a beeline for the hole, it hit her playing partner's ball marker and jumped off line. Not only did it miss the hole for birdie, it left her a four footer for par which she also missed. Tough break, but she still had a two shot lead when she fell back to 8 under.

Eventually, she made two more birdies and another bogey and finished the day with a 3 under par 68 and a total of 9 under par. And she maintained that lead as darkness fell, although there were still many players who had to finish their second rounds Sunday morning.

And so, Hee-Won took it easy as the slow play continued on Sunday. She would have a long time to rest while some of her other challengers finished their rounds, ate lunch, then came back out to start round 3. But despite the difficulties, a few more Korean players surged up the leaderboard. The most notable was Jeong Jang, who has been on a tear since before she won the British Women's Open at the end of July. Jang had to complete her second round Sunday morning, but did so in style, birdieing her last two holes to score a 5 under par 66, which climbed her into a tie with Hee-Won for the lead. Kimmie shot a 2 under par round herself and moved to 6 under par, just 3 shots out of the lead. But the biggest move this day was made by Soo-Yun Kang. On Friday, Kang had worked hard to make an even par round. In her second round, spread out over two days, she shot her own 5 under par 66 to move to 5 under total, just four shots out of the lead. This allowed her to have a little rest before having to play her third round, since she would be in one of the last groups of the day.

Other notable players included Gloria Park, who only managed an even par round in round 2, but who still stood at 5 under par with a good chance to win; and Young Jo, who shot a 4 under par 67 to move into contention. Hana Kim, who was raised in the Los Angeles area, shot a 3 under par 68 to give herself a chance for her career best finish in what has been a tough rookie year for her. She sat at 3 under for the event.

JJ drives in round 3, Sunday afternoon

A dejected Jeong Jang walks off
after double bogeying her final
hole on Sunday

The final groups were not able to start round 3 until late in the day. And right away, they were met with a challenge. The first hole, which is pretty short by LPGA standards, features what amounts to an island green. On this day, the flag position was tricky, and the greens were hard, meaning even with a wedge in your hands, it proved tricky to get a good score here. In fact, many players ruined their chances to win on this hole. One of those was Gloria Park, who wound up with a triple bogey on hole one and never contended again. Mi Hyun Kim got by with a par, though. And Kangsy, who was playing in the same group with Kimmie, hit a gorgeous iron to a few feet and made birdie, to the delight of the crowd. In the final group, Hee-Won and JJ played together with the French golfer Karine Icher, who was also starting the round at 9 under. But JJ bogied hole one, while Han parred and Icher made a double bogey. JJ bounced back with a birdie on the par 5 second hole to again move into a tie for the lead with Hee-Won.

But JJ had been playing a lot of golf on this Sunday, and as the sunlight started to fade, she paid the price. She was still at 9 under par when she reached the eighth hole, her final one of the day. But here, after hitting the green in regulation, she proceeded to make a four putt for a crushing double bogey. Hee-Won made par, and thus sat at 9 under par with the lead as they stopped play for the day. Kang had made it up to 7 under, where she was tied with Icher and Jang. Catriona Matthew was at 8 under par.