Samsung World Championship
Each year, the Samsung World Championship is the most elite field event in women's golf. The four Major winners, the defending champion, and one sponsor's exemption are joined by the top player from the European tour and the top winners on the LPGA money list. Four rounds, no cut, 20 elite golfers going for the gold.

Despite the fact that the event is sponsored by a Korean company, the golfer who has had the most success at this event over the years is a Swede: Annika Sorenstam. In fact, only once has a Korean won the title at this tournament. Se Ri Pak turned the trick in 1999, when the event was contested in Minnesota. In the last few years, it has been played at the Big Horn Golf Club in Southern California. Se Ri didn't even attend the event in 2005, her season long over due to a finger injury. But in 2004, she had hands down the worst tournament of her golfing career on at this very venue. She not only finished dead last in the field, the only time that had happened in her professional career, she was an astounding fifteen shots behind the second to last golfer. She found it virtually impossible to keep her drives straight, and as a result, she spent as much time walking in the desert looking for her ball as playing off the grass. Though she would have many horrible tournaments coming in the next year and a half, no doubt that was the very lowest point she would reach. It was especially stunning considering Se Ri owns a house at the Big Horn club, and probably plays the course a lot.

In 2006, seven of the twenty players in the field were Korean or Korean American. They were Se Ri Pak, Mi Hyun Kim, Hee-Won Han, Jeong Jang, Meena Lee and Seon Hwa Lee, all of whom had won tournaments in 2006; and Michelle Wie, the newly turned 17 year old, who got into the field via a sponsor's exemption. Wie had made her debut as a professional at this very event the previous year, but her appearance then is primarily remembered for her taking an illegal drop and getting disqualified.

Coming into this event, none of these seven ladies was playing anywhere near the top of their game. Jeong Jang was probably the best bet to make some noise. She had just won the Japan Women's Open, leading the event start to finish. Mi Hyun Kim had also been showing signs of life. But Wie was coming off two last place finishes in men's events, and Hee-Won and Meena had not been at their strongest of late. Se Ri was coming off more injury problems and would doubtless be rusty, while Seon Hwa admitted to us in our last issue that she was running out of gas as the season wound to a close.

The script did not go well for the Koreans right from the outset. Se Ri Pak shot a respectable one under par round, but Meena, Kimmie and Wie all started with 2 over par 74s. Hee-Won struggled to a 4 over par round, while JJ shot a miserable 6 over par 78, which put her in second to last place. The only Korean who really brought her A game in round one was Seon Hwa Lee. She produced five birdies against a single bogey for a four under par 68. The commentators complimented her profusely. They couldn't get enough of her putting stroke, which Roger Maltbie called one of the smoothest he had ever seen. Lee ended up in third place by the end of the day. That was the good news. The bad news was that she was behind Sorenstam, the defending champion, and Lorena Ochoa, 2006's leading money winner, who had just won the previous LPGA event for her fourth victory of the year. Lee would have to play superlative golf to keep in the hunt.

But Korean success was going to be difficult to find at this tournament. Seon Hwa struggled a bit in round two, slipping to 2 over par for the day and a 2 under par total. Se Ri also shot two over. This meant that, in a field of just 20 players, there was only one Korean in the top ten after the second day, and that was Lee. Kimmie and JJ also produced over par rounds. But the day was not a total bust. Hee-Won Han actually shot one of the low rounds of the day, a four under par 68, and rebounded nicely from her terrible start to move to even par total. Meena Lee also did well on this day, shooting a 3 under par round to become the only other Korean beside Seon Hwa under par. Her total was now one under. None of the leaders ran away from the field, so theoretically there were several Koreans who could make a run on the weekend. There was a three way tie for the lead at 6 under between Sorenstam, Paula Creamer and Sophie Gustafson. Seon Hwa was four shots back, Meena five, Han six. All of those totals were good enough to contend.

But alas, the Korean drought continued on the weekend. Meena Lee had looked so promising on day two, but on day three she collapsed, shooting a 7 over par 79 to plunge to 19th place. Seon Hwa Lee broke par with a 71, but was still only in 7th place. And she was the top Korean. Meanwhile, both Ochoa and Sorenstam had great days. Sorenstam shot a 6 under par 66 and looked poised, at 12 under total, for yet another Samsung title. Ochoa was at 9 under. At this point, the best the Korean contingent could hope for was a few top tens.

Even that proved elusive. Seon Hwa Lee hung in with a 71 to finish 8th, but she was the only Korean to crack the top ten for the week. Se Ri Pak was the next best finisher: her even par total for the week left her in 11th. But though that might have been disappointing, in a way it was vindication for Se Ri. This was her first competitive event on this course since the disaster of 2004, and she had more than acquitted herself. Whereas then she couldn't hit a fairway to save her life, in this event she hit a staggering 50 of 56 fairways for the week. That is nearly 90% accuracy off the tee. She added 55 of 72 greens in regulation to that total, more than 75%. Clearly whatever demons had been haunting her tee to green game were gone; if she could just sharpen her short game back to its former level, she showed that she still might have some awesome golf left in her in 2006.

The remaining four Koreans in the field finished in the bottom six. A pretty disappointing showing for the Sisters, considering the nine wins they had already toted up in 2006. But fortunately, their drought was going to end soon in a major way, just in time for their trip home.