2006 Kraft Nabisco Championship

The first Major of the season, the Kraft Nabisco Championship, is sometimes called the Women's Masters. Like with all Majors, it is quite an achievement to even get into the field, let alone contend or win it. But of the four Majors, it is the one where, for whatever reason, the Korean golfers have had the least success. With the sole exception of 2004, where Koreans finished 1-2, Korean players have not seriously contended for this title before. Compare that to the other Majors, where Koreans have won at least twice each, and you can see that there is a serious need for the Koreans to step it up at this event. This is also the only Major that Se Ri Pak has never won, and considering the current state of her game, it was unlikely that would change in 2006. But seeing as how Koreans had managed at least two players in the top five in every event thus far in 2006, Seoul Sisters fans had reason to hope that this year, perhaps the tide would turn for the ladies from the Land of the Morning Calm.

Of course, it's been tough to contend when you have a player who has loved this tournament as much as Annika Sorenstam has. In 2005, she won the event by 9 shots, leaving everyone else in the field in the dust. Coming off a lackluster finish at this year's Safeway International, it was not clear whether the field would be facing an angry Sorenstam ready to make amends, or a struggling Sorenstam in the throes of a rare slump.

But perhaps history was against Sorenstam. For some reason, she had won the event in odd numbered years but not even numbered ones. She won a nailbiter in 2001, won again in 2003, then crushed the field in 2005. But she lost handily in 2004 and could not overcome Patricia Meunier-Lebouc in 2002. So history suggested that 2006 would not be her year.

And, weirdly, history was exactly right. She never really was much of a factor in this year's Nabisco, and though she did get a top ten, finished well back of the eventual winners. So with Annika out of the running, could a Korean win and extend the streak of Korean Major winners to three (Koreans had won the previous two Majors)?

Well, there was some good news, to be sure. Out of the 23 Korean ladies in the field, 21 made the cut. Only Soo-Yun Kang - who struggled mightily, scoring a nine on one hole - and Gloria Park missed the cut. As a comparison, 23 Americans made the cut; no other country was even in double figures. So no doubt that the Korean ladies represented well.

Se Ri Pak had another decent but unspectacular week on tour. She was over par all four days, and made only a handful of birdies all week. On the plus side, those who got a chance to see her play said that she was definitely hitting the ball much better than she had in the last year. She still missed her share of fairways, but only rarely hit a really bad drive, a big contrast from 2005, when she was spraying her drives all over the place. But she still seems to need to work on her short game. According to eyewitnesses, she was changing her putting grip during her round in an attempt to get comfortable with what she was doing. But there are promising signs, including her accuracy in the second round, where she hit 11/14 fairways, and her greens in regulation, which was nearly 70% for the week. Let's give her a few more events and see how she's doing!

Jeong Jang is starting to show signs of returning to form. She finished 4th at the Safeway, and though she wasn't in contention this week, she still managed a top 20. Big SeoulSisters fan Bob gave JJ a SeoulSisters.com button at the tournament (see Fairways & Green in this issue for details!), and she wore it during her practice rounds. JJ later repaid the fan by entering the Oscar Meyer putting contest open to fans and winning a soccer ball for the fan's son. Now that's what I call fan friendly! Way to go, JJ, and if you're reading this, welcome!

The tournament was immediately seized in round one by Lorena Ochoa, who shot an almost unbelievable 10 under par 62 to tie the record for the all time lowest score in an LPGA Major. This gave her a four shot lead over Michelle Wie after round one. Wie managed her own amazing 6 under par 66, which under normal circumstances would have easily been enough to lead the event. After two rounds, Lorena was at 11 under and Wie at 7 under, but just behind her in third was Korean super rookie Seon Hwa Lee, who followed a strong 69 in round one with another one in round two, becoming the only player in the field to shoot two rounds in the sixties during her first two rounds. Amateur Angela Park, who lives in Torrance, California, impressed the home state crowd with a two round total of three under par, which tied her with the surprising Shi Hyun Ahn for 7th. A whole bunch of gals sat just outside the top 20, including Grace Park, JJ and Jimin Kang, all tied at 2 over.

In early play on Saturday, it was Hee-Won Han who impressed. Amazingly, this superstar had never before managed a top ten in a Major. She started the day at 3 over, and it looked unlikely that this event would change that streak. But she played brilliantly, carding a 4 under par 68 for low round of the day. This moved her to 1 under and within hailing distance of a top ten.

By halfway through round 3, Ochoa had fallen to 10 under, Wie to 6 under, and Lee remained at 6 under herself. But a birdie on 11 moved Lee into solo second, just three shots back. Seon Hwa was continuing the great Lee tradition of 2006 (see the LEEderboard report in this issue), at least for the moment. And boy, did she look sharp. She followed her birdie on 11 with a perfect drive on 12, a perfect approach, and a near miss for birdie.

Meanwhile, Shi Hyun Ahn and Angela Park had moved to 4 under par, and both still had an outside chance of winning. But Park hit her Waterloo on the final four holes, all of which she bogied to drop all the way to even. Still, she would manage a tie for 15th by the end of the week, a great finish for the young amateur. She turned pro immediately after the event, and given her results, one has to like her chances for a profitable pro career.

Ahn was up and down during the round. She had two birdies and two bogies on the day when she striped her tee shot on 17 to five feet and made birdie to move back to 4 under. She had a good chance for birdie on 18, too, but just missed it. Still, her 4 under total left her in 4th place with a great chance for a top five and an outside chance to win. You can't ask for much more.

Seon Hwa Lee continued to play exemplary golf much of her round. She missed her first fairway of the day on 13, and wound up with a bogey. But Michelle Wie also bogied there and fell to five under, leaving Lee in second for the moment. On 14, Seon Hwa had a nice approach and just missed birdie. She hit a great iron on 15, but missed birdie there, too. Even after Wie birdied the 14th, Seon Hwa was still tied for second place.

But then things fell a little apart. The last four holes were interesting, in that, had things gone just a little differently, she might have walked away with a 2 under on those holes. Instead, she wound up 2 over. After narrowly missing the great birdie chance on 15, she made an unfortunate three putt on 16 (missing a very makeable four footer for par). On 17, she hit just about the best tee shot you could ask for, but again missed the easy birdie. Then on 18, after a perfect drive, she missed her lay up by a smidge to the right and wound up in deep rough. Had she been in the fairway there, she might very well have had birdie, but as it was, she had to lay up (which she didn't do well), then hit her fourth not that close to the flag. She wound up with bogey. An unfortunate end to an otherwise superlative day, Seon Hwa wound up at 4 under, five shots out of the lead. She still had a chance to win, but a very slight one.

As it turned out, those two shots didn't make much of a difference, for Seon Hwa completely collapsed on Sunday. It's hard to know what happened; perhaps it was the nerves of being in a situation like that for the first time. Regardless, she shot a punishing 80, which plunged her right out of the top ten. She still managed a 19th, not bad for her first Major as an LPGA player, but no doubt much worse than she was hoping for.