2005 Awards

Best Head to Head Match-Up:
Meena Lee vs. Marisa Baena, HSBC Women's World Match Play
This was also one of the most unlikely match-ups of the year. The HSBC Women's World Match Play was the first event that pitted the top 64 players in the world against one another in a match play format (the same company also sponsors a men's version of the event). It also offered one of the largest purses in the history of the women's game, with even the fourth place player taking home $150,000. Yet when the final two were left standing, neither one had ever before won an LPGA event. Meena Lee, at least, had finished second a couple of months earlier at the Corning Classic, but Marisa Baena had never before been in a position to win this kind of cash.

The match did not disappoint. Both players made some great shots and even better putts. In the end, it looked like Baena would walk off with the trophy, but Lee made two clutch putts on two straight holes to stay in the match. It all came down to the 18th green, where Meena finally was unable to rise to the occasion and lost 1 down. She had been the only remaining Korean player since the third round, and had made it all the way to the final, her second second place finish of the year. She would have to wait a few more weeks to finally break through with her first win.

Honorable Mentions:
Jimin Kang vs. Meena Lee
Hee-Won Han vs. Nicole Perrot

Meena Fighting!

Birdie makes history. The greatest shot I have ever seen

Shot of the Year
Birdie Kim, 72nd hole, US Women's Open
How about the shot of the century? How often does any event come down to someone hitting an improbable birdie from a bunker to win it? OK, how often does that happen at a Major? Not enough to impress you? OK then, how often does it happen when the hole had only yielded 3 birdies all week, and was the hardest hole in the history of LPGA Major competition? Do you get the idea that what Birdie Kim did was pretty special?

Coming into the 72nd and final hole of the week, Birdie Kim had already exceeded all expectations. A player with only one career top ten to her credit, and more missed cuts than made ones, she now stood on the tee one shot ahead of two amateurs for the biggest title in women's golf. But this hole was almost a guaranteed bogey, and if you were not careful, much worse than that.

Birdie hit her approach into a bunker, and now faced a dicey shot. She was not a great player at making sand saves, but a save was exactly what she needed. She hit exactly the shot she wanted: a low runner that tracked towards the hole. Then, magic! The ball fell into the hole, amateur Morgan Pressel could not believe her eyes, and Birdie Kim had pulled off one of the most amazing shots in the history of mankind. No joke.

Honorable Mention:
Jimin Kang, 15th hole, Corning Classic
Any other year, this one, a hole in one to move into a tie for the lead with three holes to play, would have been hands down the best shot of the year. It's probably in the top five of greatest shots I've ever seen. But this year, nothing could top Birdie's Bunker Blast.

Biggest Diss of the Year:
Birdie Kim dismissed in the press
This result definitely deserves the 'Wagging Finger of Shame'. Think about it: a player changes her name in the off season to, of all things, 'Birdie'. One of the hands down greatest names in golf history is born. She has a little luck, including her first ever top ten, but otherwise is still not making much of an impact. Then, for one week, at the most grueling and important event in her sport, she hangs in there with the best players in the world. On the final hole, with everything on the line, she then executes one of the greatest shots in history to pull the trophy right out of the hands of a competitor. Does this sound like one of the greatest Cinderella stories you've ever heard?

Now, imagine that she has come from overseas, sacrificed a lot, just to get the chance to play the game she loves. Imagine she had left her old coach to try a newfangled coach, but comes back to him because the Big Name coach just isn't working out. Imagine that coach is a former pro, getting on in years, who has coached many fine players but never had his One Chance at the Big Time... until now. An older white American male who takes this young Korean girl to heart like a daughter. My goodness, this sounds like a Hollywood movie, doesn't it?

Then imagine the next thing that happens: commentators everywhere complain about her win, calling it a fluke and dismissing her magical shot as 'lucky' and even 'terrible'. Huh? What happened? How did we go from a Cinderella tale to that?

Well, unfortunately, that's exactly what happened, and the only explanation I can see for it is simple: these commentators wanted their own Cinderella story involving an American player named Pressel, and when they didn't get it, they took it out on Birdie. The only way Pressel could lose to a 'no name' like Kim was if luck was involved. Forget the fact that Pressel herself had not exactly lit the world on fire in Majors or LPGA events before this result, and that her winning would have been almost as unlikely as Birdie winning.

It was a shameful and wrong headed move on the part of these commentators (starting with Johnny Miller, who proclaimed on TV right after the shot that 'Morgan Pressel was just robbed'). They ought to know better.

For the record, the correct response to this shot is awe, followed by the assessment that it was lucky, but it also was very very good, and it always takes a little of both to become a champion.

Most Surprising Result of the Year:
Se Ri Pak's Entire Season
I didn't want to bring it up again, but there's no getting around it: nobody, I mean nobody, could have predicted that a player the caliber of Se Ri Pak could have such a miserable season. You would think, based on past performance, that she could finish in the top 20 on the LPGA money list by playing on her head. But nothing went right for this superstar, and she ended up finishing a dismal 105th on the money list for 2005.

Honorable Mention:
Birdie Kim wins the Open

She who Laughs Last: Jeong Jang

Most Dominating Performance
Jeong Jang, Women's British Open
From the first shot until the last at this year's final Major, one player stood taller than everyone else. No, it was not Michelle Wie, although that player does often stand taller than most (being 6 feet tall is a prime reason for that). No, instead it was the 'Little Giant', one of the shortest players in women's golf, who captured this title, and did it in style.

This writer has always been of the opinion that, when JJ finally won her first event, it was going to be a Major, and probably the British Open. She plays extremely well in wet and windy conditions, and has put herself into contention at this Major in the past. But nothing prepared her fans for just how solid she would be in 2005's Open. On the first day, in horrendous weather that punished many of the top players, she carded a 4 under par 68, one of only two players to shoot in the 60s. She continued her greatness with two more rounds in the 60s, and going into Sunday's action, had a five shot lead over Annika Sorenstam, with whom she would play on Sunday.

Many seasoned observers expected the pressure of playing with the world's number one player would at last expose JJ's weakness, but she continued to play as well as she had all week. In fact, it was Sorenstam who ended up cracking when she made several key mistakes down the stretch. Jang birdied the final hole for four straight days of rounds in the 60s. A masterful performance by the Little Giant.

Honorable Mention:
Soo-Yun Kang at the Safeway Classic

Best Victory Tour
Jeong Jang, Following the British Open
Jeong Jang has been one of the top Koreans on the LPGA tour for several years, but a victory always eluded her. Finally, she put one away at the 2005 Women's British Open, and to make it even sweeter, it was a Major.

As it turned out, the very next day she had a plane ticket to return to Korea for a few weeks. Upon landing and for a week thereafter, she was followed everywhere she went by a phalanx of reporters. Even while still in the airport, she not only gave a press conference, but read aloud a letter she had received from the President of Korea, congratulating her on her achievement.

In the days to come, she received numerous awards, met several celebrities, and even got a chance to throw the first pitch out at a baseball game. But the highlight of the entire week came when she visited her old high school in Daejeon, and was swarmed by the students, who were positively giddy at JJ's return. Nothing beats returning to your hometown a conquering heroine!

Honorable Mention:
Birdie Kim following the US Women's Open

JJ presents a letter she received from the President
of South Korea congratulating her on her
Major victory