Hawaiian Punch

The Fields Open
A few days later, the second LPGA event of the 2006 season started on the other side of Oahu from the SBS Open. This was a new event, held at the prestigious Ko'Olina Golf course on the southwest shore of the island. It was a course very familiar to Hawaiian native Michelle Wie, who had recently been named the third best women's golfer in a brand new women's golf ranking system that had just been announced. Since it would be her first women's event of the year, Wie naturally attracted the lion's share of attention from the press and fans. And what she didn't get went to Morgan Pressel, now a rookie on tour, who had made several bold statements about Michelle Wie that had led the press to build up a rivalry between them.

But the Fields event would also feature a number of top Korean players, and as at the SBS Open a week earlier, they would not disappoint. The top Korean finisher on day one would turn out to be rookie Seon Hwa Lee. She had started her LPGA career the previous week, and had done fairly well, finishing just a shot out of a top ten in 13th place. She continued her great play here with a blistering 7 under par 65 that included an eagle from the fairway. She had been virtually ignored by the Western press whenever they talked about this great rookie class. The best way to react to something like that is to let your clubs do the talking, and Seon Hwa certainly did (it was also refreshing to see that the Golf Channel were now spelling and pronouncing her name correctly).

The leader after day one was Lorena Ochoa, who had lost in a playoff the previous week but seemed ready to make up for it here. She shot an 8 under par 64 to take a one shot lead over Seon Hwa and Wendy Ward. Veteran Korean star Hee-Won Han shot a 67 to finish the day tied for fourth. Among the other players at 5 under were Morgan Pressel, Michelle Wie, Cristie Kerr and Natalie Gulbis. Jeong Jang, the top Korean on tour in 2005, started well with a 68, and a ton of Koreans shot 69, including Mi Hyun Kim, Christina Kim, Jimin Kang, Joo Mi Kim, Meena Lee, Il Mi Chung, Aree Song and Sae-Hee Son. Whew! That's a lot of Seoul Sisters within striking distance!

Anyone who thought Seon Hwa Lee was just going to go away was in for a rude shock on Friday. She followed her stellar 65 with an almost equally impressive 66, and found herself with a two shot lead over Natalie Gulbis going into the final day. Everything seemed to go Seon Hwa's way on this day. Her irons were sensational. She made six birdies from within six feet of the hole; only one of her seven birdies was from farther away. Her concentration was almost unearthly; if she were nervous or worried, she sure didn't act like it. With her CJ hat and similar build, she almost looked like a junior version of Se Ri Pak, and like Se Ri, she methodically dissected the course to establish her two shot lead. She even played like a veteran on the final hole, where she ran into trouble. Instead of trying an ill advised shot to the green from trouble, she layed up, then hit a stellar wedge close for an easy par. It's not often a young player like Seon Hwa (she is just 20) would have the presence of mind to take the conservative route in that situation. But it was the right thing to do. And thus, Seon Hwa had a chance to win her first LPGA event - in only her second event as a tour member. Wow.

But it wouldn't be a cakewalk. Natalie Gulbis sat just two shots back at 11 under par, and though Gulbis had yet to win on tour, she had knocked on the door numerous times in her career. Lorena Ochoa only managed a 71 in round 2, but was still within striking distance. And another rookie, Julieta Granada, was at 10 under. These four seemed like the most likely players to mount an assault on Lee.

But lurking a few shots further back were some pretty big guns. There were Michelle Wie, Morgan Pressel, and Canadian Open champ Meena Lee, all tied at 7 under par. A six shot lead would seem pretty tough to overcome, but it was not impossible. And Aree Song was having one of her better recent tournaments; she sat at 8 under par.

Some of the news was not so good. Kyeong Bae had to fight to make the cut, and though she did it, she would lose ground on the top rookies in the Rookie of the Year race. Grace Park, whose year had started so promisingly with the first round lead at the SBS, fired two weak rounds at the Fields and missed the cut. And that big group of Koreans who shot 69 in round one largely did not make a move to stay in the battle in round two.

But Seon Hwa was in a great position entering round 3, and she did not disappoint. She was paired with Gulbis and Granada, but no doubt was keeping an eye on Ochoa in the group ahead of her. As you might expect, she struggled a bit at first, bogeying the fourth hole and having a little case of the nerves as she tried to stay in the lead. But she came back with a birdie on the par 5 5th, and hung in there with pars until the ninth hole. There, she put her drive into a fairway bunker, and left herself a monstrously tricky approach to the green. Showing true grit, she hit a spectacular shot from there onto the green and easily saved par. She had survived her first nine holes in even par, but knew she would have to pick up the pace to stay in the lead.

For ahead of her, some truly amazing rounds were being shot. Meena Lee, who had started the day six shots behind Seon Hwa, made a birdie on her first hole, then sunk an eagle from the fairway on hole 2. In just two holes she was three under par for the day. She continued her hot play with another birdie on 8 to go out in four under par, and now sat at 11 under, just two shots out of the lead. Michelle Wie, who was paired with her nemesis Pressel, fed off the enormous crowd and managed three birdies in her first nine holes. And though Granada was not doing so well, both Gulbis and Ochoa were still in the mix.

Holes 13 and 14 are back to back par fives. It seemed likely they would prove to be pivotal holes, and indeed they were. Wie reached them first. Normally you would expect a player with her length to be making birdies, perhaps even eagles, on these holes. Especially when you consider that this is a course with which she is well familiar. But she hit a terrible drive on 13 and was forced to lay up, then was not able to save par from a short distance. She did manage to par 14, but again made no birdie. Playing those hole in one over par would prove disastrous for her, although she still managed to make a longish birdie on 17 and saved par on 18 to finish her tournament at 13 under par. Though not the score she was hoping for, it might yet have proved good enough to give her the title.

Except that Meena Lee was continuing her sterling play on the back nine. Meena, like Joo Mi, is another former #1 player on the Korean tour (in fact, Joo Mi replaced Meena as that tour's top player in 2003); like Joo Mi, she is in her early twenties, and is in her second year on the LPGA tour. But Meena had had a far more successful rookie campaign on the LPGA than Joo Mi had had. Meena managed three top two finishes, one of which was a win, and made nearly $900,000 overall. Most years, her results would have been good enough to assure her of Rookie of the Year, but in 2005, Paula Creamer was just too tough to top. Still, Meena had established herself as clearly one of the top ten women golfers in the world (although the world ranking inexplicably ranked her 54th!!), and in this final round, she was showing that her performance in 2005 was far from a fluke.

Meena continued to apply the pressure with a clutch birdie from 8 feet on the par 5 13th to move to 12 under. Although she was not able to birdie the other par 5, she still came out of that stretch two shots better than Wie, and tied with Seon Hwa Lee for the lead.

Meanwhile, the other top players foundered. Gulbis never was able to get anything started, and wound up shooting an even par round for the day. Ochoa had her chances, but a poor drive on 17 cost her a bogey and ended her chances to catch Wie for the title. By then, there were only three players who could still win the event, and they all had Korean blood flowing through their veins.