Nabisco Review

Certainly, fans of the Korean players did not look upon this year's edition of the Kraft-Nabisco Championship with the same fervor as last year's. Although several players did well in 2005, in 2004, six players with Korean blood notched top tens, including the victory (Grace Park) and the runner-up spot (Aree Song). The 2004 tournament also boasted one of the most, if not the most, exciting finishes of the year, with Aree Song nailing an eagle putt on the final hole to force Grace Park to sink a short birdie putt to take the crown.

This year, the tournament was pretty much of a runaway for Annika Sorenstam, starting early on Saturday morning. But with all suspense leached out of the outcome, there were still a few notable performances to mention.

Grace took the victory dive last year!

Grace tried her best to defend her crown in 2005,
but her back would not cooperate

First, we should pay attention to Grace Park. Last year, Grace started her season with a bang, claiming top three finishes in her first three events. But this year, she has been enormously hampered by her recurring back problems. As a result, she had yet to get a top ten in 2005, and was forced to drop out of the previous week's Safeway International, despite it being in her (American) hometown of Phoenix, and being one of the events she most looks forward to playing every year. Her back was in such dire shape during the Nabisco that it seemed dubious that she would finish here, either, but she was determined to stick it out. During the pro-am, which she had to attend, she looked terrible and struggled mightily. But give Grace credit. She might have been inconsistent, but she didn't give up. After two rounds, she had even worked her way into the event, only two shots behind Sorenstam. But a third round 76 plunged her out of contention. Most players might have given up at that point, but she plugged on, nearly shooting the low round of the day on Sunday with a 67 and claiming her first top five of the year, a fifth place finish. Not the way she would have wanted things to go, but a brave showing nonetheless.

Credit is also due to Mi Hyun Kim, who has not played so well in 2005, either. Last year, Mi Hyun managed 15 top tens, the most she had ever achieved, but in 2005, she had not come anywhere near a top ten to this point. But she got off to a great start at the Nabisco with a 3 under par 69 that left her tied for the lead after round one. She was never again able to play quite that well, but she never shot an over-par round all week, putting together a 71 with two 72's on the weekend to also finish tied for fifth. It was a promising return to form for Peanut.

Speaking of returns to form, no player had been more off her usual form (even including Se Ri Pak) than Shi Hyun Ahn has been. Last year's Rookie of the Year has been frankly terrible in 2005, with a missed cut and another low finish to her credit coming into this week. And after three rounds at the Nabisco, it didn't look like much had changed. Although she made the cut, she was mired in mediocrity at 8 over par. But then, just as suddenly as her slump had started, it ended with a phenomenal fourth round run. After an early bogey, she ripped off three straight birdies, then hit the turn and turned it up another notch. From the first hole to the 8th (she played the front nine last on Sunday), she compiled five more birdies. She was 7 under par for the round, the best score of the entire week bty any player, and was playing a par five for her last hole. Alas, she bogied that one to finish with a 66, but it was still a great finish that catapulted her all the way into the top twenty. Hopefully it's a sign that she's about to return to her top form more regularly.

Peanut had her best finish of the year to date

Se Ri Pak in round 1

Then there's Se Ri Pak. Se Ri was really hoping to be able to win her first Nabisco Championship and complete her Grand Slam this week, but never has she come into this event with less confidence, and it showed. Apparently, her driving problem is, if anything, getting even worse. Eyewitnesses to her first round claimed she was not only missing fairways, she was missing them by fifty or sixty yards. After nine holes of struggle on Thursday, she started to fade, eventually carding a 5 over par 77. She was well on her way to missing her first cut in a Major as an LPGA player.

But then a funny thing happened. No, Se Ri did not start hitting fairways. In the middle two rounds of this event, she hit only 13 fairways, a staggering sub-50% total. What happened was, despite the fact she was hitting no fairways, and not a lot of greens, she was playing well. In those two rounds, she shot a pair of 70's. Imagine a player being so strong that she can manufacture two solid rounds at a Major when hitting fewer than 50% of her fairways. The will and the skill are still there, she just needs to tame that driver.

Se Ri's fourth round was similarly crazy, but this time she could only muster a 76. She still had her best finish of the year, a rather lackluster 27th place. But she did that while hitting less that *40%* of her fairways for the week. I doubt there's another player on the planet who could finish so well fighting so much adversity. But Se Ri now sits third from last in the entire LPGA in driving accuracy. Until she can get her driving back, we're going to see a lot more events like this one from her.

Among the other players of note, Aree Song struggled all week, as she has for much of the last few months, and was not a factor. Hee-Won Han played well early, but faded, and once again failed to get her first top ten in a Major. Bo Bae Song played her first event ever in the States, as did Ai Miyazato. Miyazato had the unlucky draw of playing with Michelle Wie, and had to deal with her enormous galleries the first two rounds (not that she isn't used to playing with big crowds, since she does that all the time in Japan!). In this rematch of Song and Miyazato (they both had last clashed at the Women's World Cup in February), neither did all that well, but both did respectably: Miyazato finished 44th and Bo Bae Song 55th.

So the Korean players have yet to really get into the swing this season, but hopefully the relatively few events in April will allow them to get their preparations for the season completed. If so, we can look forward to some great stuff from them coming soon to a fairway near you!

Aree Song at the 2004 Nabisco