2005 CJ 9 Bridges Classic

On Saturday, Jee Young Lee would no longer be able to slip undetected through the field. But any idea that she had gotten lucky from playing early on Friday was quickly scotched. The weather on Saturday was even rougher than it had been on day one, yet Lee, especially at the beginning of her round, proved that her first round's play was no fluke. She birdied the first hole, added another birdie at the fourth, then followed a bogey on 7 with another birdie on 8 to go out in 2 under par. By the time she added two more birdies on 11 and 12, she was amazingly at 11 under par. To put this in perspective, no one else in the field at the time was better than 3 under par. With a few holes to go in the second round, she had an 8 shot lead over the field. Incredible.

Mi Hyun Kim was doing well herself, but nowhere near as well as Lee. She had gotten to 3 under, putting her in a tie with Carin Koch for second place. JJ, meanwhile, had surprisingly fallen back. This type of weather was usually exactly what the doctor ordered for JJ, but she was currently 3 over par on her round and sat at 2 under. Other Koreans still in the hunt included Hee Young Park, who sat at 2 under, and Seon-Hwa Lee at even.

Mi Hyun Kim continued her strong play on Saturday,
but fell further behind at first

Jee Young Lee seemingly could do no wrong
on Saturday; at least at first.

Meanwhile, Annika Sorenstam continued to struggle, eventually ending up shooting a 75 for the second day in a row. She would not contend again. But another top player from the LPGA, Paula Creamer, maintained her chances by finishing the day with a 2 under par round and a one under for the tournament. Hee-Won Han also produced a 2 under par 70 to move to one over, which by the end of the day left her in 8th. And even those who shot slightly over par like Grace Park (who shot a second straight 73) still found themselves with good chances at top tens; she sat at 2 over for the event. But as far as contending, none of that would matter as long as Lee sat at 11 under par.

But it was not clear how much longer that would be the case. On the par 4 14th hole, Jee Young hit her approach into the bunker. Her third shot was a nice one, landing close to the hole to the delight of the crowd. But the ball had spin, and rolled back all the way off the green. Her par save from the fringe was a great effort, but too hard, and bounced out of the hole, rolling three feet past. She then sloppily missed the bogey save and wound up with a double bogey. On a hole where she had a great chance to make par, she lost two shots.

She would recover on 15. Although she again missed the green, she hit a superlative chip to a foot for an easy par. But she would bogey 16 to fall to 8 under total. She still had a five shot lead, but it was clear she was now getting a bit shaky. Perhaps the biggest disaster came on the par 5 18th hole. This hole has a split fairway, and a water carry to an island green. If you don't hit a great drive, you must play it as a three shot hole unless you are very confident or very crazy. On this day she drove into a deep bunker, then wedged out into the rough, forcing her to lay up with a pitching wedge to 125 yards. From there she hit the green, but then three putted for another double bogey. In just her final five holes she had given up five shots and gone from an 8 shot lead at 11 under par to a three shot lead at 6 under. She was still in the driver's seat, but she would have something to think about overnight.

Perhaps the most surprising second round was turned in by Soo-Yun Kang. After shooting an 81 in the first round, she doubtless was not so thrilled about showing up for another potentially punishing round of golf. But Kang didn't get to be a top golfer by giving up, and she turned in a sterling effort in round two. She didn't even get the benefit of playing at an early time; she was in the final group to start off the tenth tee, and thus was one of the last golfers to finish on Saturday. She put together three birdies early in her round, and after a bogey on the 4th hole, finished with birdies on her final three holes. Her 5 under par 67 was by far the best score shot that day; no one else would shoot in the 60s. She had moved from last place to a tie for 23rd.

That night, Jee Young Lee had enormous trouble sleeping. She got to the first tee on Sunday scared and tired. Would she be able to maintain her lead? As with the past two days, the weather was windy and cold. Not a single hole was going to be a cakewalk on this day.

Lee played with two much more experienced Korean stars in her group: Mi Hyun Kim, the longtime Korean star with five career LPGA victories, and Jeong Jang, who was fifth on the money list in 2005 and had won the year's final Major. But rather than scare her, playing with these two familiar faces helped to comfort Lee. She birdied her first hole, just to show that she wasn't going to give up without a fight. Jang did as well, though, keeping the youngster firmly in her sights.

Soo-Yun Kang recovered from her horrible
first round 81 by shooting the best score
of the day on Saturday

Fans from Jee Young's university, Young In University,
followed her on the weekend to support her efforts

Some of the other well known players suffered major meltdowns in the meantime. Paula Creamer, playing in the second to last group, seemed unable to do anything right, making mistake after mistake. Her baffled facial expressions as she watched things happen she just didn't understand told the whole story. She wound up with a 7 over par 79 and finished well back in the pack.

But in her playing group was KLPGA star Hee Young Park, and this young rookie showed once again that she has the makings of a major star. By the ninth hole she was 2 under par for the day and three under for the tournament, thanks to three birdies against a lone bogey. But a bunch of bogies from holes 10 - 14 ended her chances of winning, although she did manage one more birdie on hole 16 to finish as one of the few players under par for the week. A fourth place finish in her first LPGA event might not have been enough to gain her a tour card, but it certainly must have been encouraging.