2005 Evian Masters

Highlights:

It didn't turn out to be a particularly good event for the Korean players, but there were a few highlights. Christina Kim got off to a very good start, shooting a 4 under par 68 in the first round to set herself just two shots out of the lead, then following that with a second 68 to give her a share of the lead with Paula Creamer going into the weekend. At that point, Christina fans everywhere were doubtless excited. But trouble lay ahead. On Saturday, she was paired with Creamer and Annika Sorenstam, who started the day two shots behind the two young Americans. But it was Creamer who had the fantastic Saturday, shooting a 6 under par 66 to take a scary good seven shot lead going into Sunday. Annika was only able to shoot par, and Christina struggled mightily and ended up going 3 over on the day. Eventually, Christina finished with a tie for fifth, a still pretty good finish that earned her 90,000 dollars.

With Creamer doing so well and easily on her way to her second win of the year, the Rookie of the Year race looked like it was soon to end. The only Korean rookie in the field was Meena Lee, who was coming off her win at the Canadian Open the week before (but even that win had not gotten her super close to Creamer in the Rookie standings). Meena managed to play pretty steadily all week, including a 4 under par 68 on Saturday, although she did have a slight hiccup with a 74 on Friday. She, too, would finish tied for fifth, keeping her slim hopes of the Rookie title alive.

As usual, the Korean or Korean American who had the best results was Michelle Wie. She started out horrendously with a 75, and looked for all the world like she would not be a factor, but went 70-68-68 in her final three rounds to climb to 7 under par and a tie for second with Lorena Ochoa. Nonetheless, she was definitely overshadowed by her teen rival Creamer, who ended up winning by 8 shots with a 15 under par total.

Gloria Park and Hee-Won Han also notched top 20s, Han with a 20th place finish, Gloria ending up tied for 14th.

Christina at the Evian

Grace at the Evian

Lowlights:

Se Ri Pak was seemingly qualified for this event. The official Evian website claimed she would get in by virtue of being a tournament winner from 2004. But in the end, she did not play. There were conflicting reports as to why. One said that she in fact did not qualify. If so, this must be because her win was more than a year ago, even though it took place in 2004. All the other golfers in the field who got in based on recent wins had wins more recent than last year's Evian. This report also said she was hoping to get a sponsor's exemption, but did not get one. Another report implied that she was nursing an injury, and considering she dropped out of the British Open after only nine holes a week after the Evian due to a finger injury, there may be credence to this. Nonetheless, this is the first time that Se Ri has not played in the event since it became an LPGA sanctioned tournament. A pity.

Several other top players had lackluster results. Kimmie, who has finished in the top three on a couple of occasions here, struggled and ended up tied for 32nd. Grace Park was 27th, despite also having had success here in the past. Birdie Kim was not able to break par all week and finished 32nd. Jimin Kang started well, but plunged down the leaderboard with a final round 77. She also ended up in 32nd place. Also in 32nd was Jeong Jang, but she would get her revenge on the field at the Major the following week.