2005 Mitchell Company Tournament of Champions

This part of the LPGA season is filled with limited field events of various kinds. Already played events include the Samsung, at which 16 of the top women from the LPGA, plus a few other assorted international top pros, are invited to duke it out; and events in Korea and Japan open only to the top 40 or so players on the LPGA money list. Yet to come is the season ending ADT Tour Championship, in which the top 30 golfers on the money list vie for the title.

Sandwiched between these events is another limited field tournament with a unique pedigree: the Mitchell Company Tournament of Champions. This event, which lately has been contested in Mobile, Alabama, has had several sponsors over the year (it was even staged once without any sponsors). In the last couple of years, the Mitchell Company has been the title sponsor, and this year, an additional presenting sponsor was added: Kathy Ireland. Yes, this is the same Kathy Ireland of modeling and Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue fame, now running her own company, Kathy Ireland Worldwide, a woman's lifestyle company. Why is this significant? Well, Kathy once before sponsored an LPGA event: the Kathy Ireland Greens.com Classic. This event was won by a rookie named Grace Park, her first LPGA victory. Would Ireland's presence as a sponsor have a beneficial effect on the Korean players yet again?

Grace Park won a trophy at the
last tournament sponsored by
Kathy Ireland (the 2000 Kathy
Ireland Greens.com Classic)

Soo-Yun Kang was one of the first time
Koreans in the field. Here she is in
round one.

The Tournament of Champions, as mentioned previously, is unique on tour, for only players who have won an LPGA event in the past four years and active Hall of Fame members are invited to participate. This year, thanks to the flurry of first time victories by Koreans, a record number of Seoul Sisters participated in the event. On the one end you had players like Gloria Park and Mi Hyun Kim, who last won on tour in 2002. Those players were in their final year of eligibility for the Tournament of Champions unless they could pull off a win before next year's event. Then you had those who had won before 2005, such as Grace Park and Se Ri Pak, both of whom chose not to participate this year; Shi Hyun Ahn, who won in 2003; and Hee-Won Han and Christina Kim, both of whom had won in 2004 (Hee-Won also won this year, requalifying for the event). Then there were all the golfers who got into the field thanks to 2005 wins: Jimin Kang, Birdie Kim, Meena Lee, Soo-Yun Kang and Jeong Jang. Lastly there was Jee Young Lee, whose win at the CJ 9 Bridges Classic just two weeks previously made her the final player to make it into the field (had Young Kim won in Japan the week before the TOC, she, too, would have made it into the field). In 2003, Shi Hyun Ahn had similarly qualified for the TOC at the last minute by winning the CJ, but she had a terrible time as she tried to rush the necessary papers that would allow her to play in this country through proper channels. Lee had been more prescient: she had already prepared all her papers long before she had won on Cheju Island. Did she know something we didn't?

At one point in the early 2000's, this tournament was the private playground of Se Ri Pak. In 2001, she absolutely trounced the field, grabbing a huge lead mid-Saturday and cruising to a win. With a few holes to go on Sunday, her lead had been as much as ten shots, before Lorie Kane went on a birdie run on the back nine to cut the final margin to 5. Se Ri successfully defended in 2002, but this time, she was the one doing the chasing. Carin Koch had grabbed a large lead by setting the course record of 62 on Thursday, but on Sunday, Se Ri relentlessly reeled her in, eventually capturing the trophy herself with some of her patented brilliance in the final few holes.

But no Korean had won the event in the past two seasons, and with Se Ri missing in action in 2005, someone else would have to take up the slack. It wasn't likely that that someone would be Christina Kim. Though she had had a decent season in 2005, her game had been undergoing a mild downturn in the latter half of the season. In fact, it had been nearly four months since she had notched a top ten on tour.

Se Ri won this event twice in a row in the
early 2000's. Here she is following her
successful title defense in 2002.

Christina had a great opening
round

Jee Young Lee played her first ever
LPGA event in America this week

But on Thursday, Christina immediately got out to a great start, and didn't look back. Playing in one of the later groups, she notched birdies on 2, 4 and 5 to move to 3 under par before a bogey knocked her back to 2 under. Never fear, though; she added three more birdies on the back, including one on 18, to finish at 5 under par. A fantastic way to start her week: a five under par 67. After her round she told the press that she was approaching this event differently than other recent tournaments. She said that, because there was no cut, she had nothing to fear if she were too aggressive and it backfired. So she and her dad decided to just go for it, aim at the flags, and hope for the best. At least to that point, this strategy had worked wonderfully.

However, Christina was not in the lead after the first round. The leader was Liselotte Neumann, the veteran Swedish player. Neumann had been playing well of late, including contending at the Office Depot in LA a few weeks previous. She wound up with a 66 on the first day and a one shot lead over Christina and Juli Inkster.

A few other Koreans also played well on Thursday. Hee-Won Han, who has been on a roll of late, notched a 3 under par 69 to finish in a tie for 6th. Birdie Kim, Meena Lee and Shi Hyun Ahn all finished in a tie for 10th at 2 under. And Soo-Yun Kang, in her first ever round on this course (and in this event), shot a respectable 1 under par 71 to sit in 17th. So by and large, the Korean contingent acquitted themselves nicely.

Birdie had one other distinction on this day. Not only was this her first ever Tournament of Champions round, but she had to play it by herself. She was the odd player out, and had to play in the first group on Thursday morning. It didn't seem to affect her too adversely.

Meanwhile, only one player had a truly regrettable round, and that was Jimin Kang, who shot a 6 over par 78. Because she was currently tied for last place, she would get the 'privilege' of playing by herself in the first group on Friday.

One other player had her inaugural Champions experience, but this player was also playing for the first time in the States: Jee Young Lee. Alas, it didn't go all that well, and she shot a 2 over par 74. She would go on to finish last among all the Koreans in the field, in a tie for 38th at 6 over par (there were 43 total players in the field). Although she didn't exactly light the world on fire, she should still be proud that she made the trip and gave it a try. Next year, she will be much more ready to show American fans what she is capable of.