2007 ANZ Ladies Masters

Ji Yai Shin, Sun Ju Ahn and Hee Young Park were among the KLPGA stars who journeyed down under from February 8 - 11 to compete in the ANZ Ladies Masters. This event is one of the most prestigious played in Australia every year. It has been by and large dominated by Aussie Hall of Famer Karrie Webb, who once again proved too tough to stop in collecting yet another win at this event.

In 2006, the story had been about youth, particularly one standout young golfer named Amy Yang. Korean girls have taken Australian women's amateur golf by storm in the last few years, following the pioneering efforts of Gloria Park, a two time winner on the LPGA tour who had set many records as a young amateur in Australia in the late nineties. In the past couple years, players like Mi Sun Cho (who now plays for Pepperdine), Sarah Oh, Helen Oh and Haeji Kang have all won major amateur tournaments down under. But none made a bigger splash than 16 year old Amy Yang (pictured) when she won this event as a 16 year old in 2006. Yang was fired up to defend her title this year. In the intervening year, she had played in her first Major and finished low amateur there, turned professional, finished fourth in her first event as a pro, and followed that with a third place finish in her second pro event. But none of that was as impressive as her incredible win at the ANZ in a playoff over American Catherine Cartwright. The win made Yang the youngest golfer, male or female, to ever win an event on a major pro golf tour. Anywhere in the world. That the win came in her backyard (the ANZ is played only a couple of miles from her high school) made it all the more sweet. Alas, Amy was not able to repeat the magic this year in Australia. She had finished tied for 20th the previous week at the Australian Women's Open, but was unable to make the cut in her title defense at the ANZ. Still, she was chipper, and looked forward to her next opportunity to test herself against the big girls.

In general, the amateur youth train derailed somewhat at the ANZ. Sarah Oh and Helen Oh were both in the field, but both missed the cut. Haeji Kang, a classmate of Yang's (she is one year younger), did make the cut, but finished well back in the field. It would not be the amateur contingent who would challenge Webb for supremacy this year.

Nor would Tiffany Joh (pictured) make a difference in the outcome. The last two years, the bubbly, dynamic southern Californian has factored into the final result with her brilliant play. She shot a course record 63 in the 2005 edition of the event and wound up among the top finishers that year. In 2006, she played even better. Indeed, with one hole to go, she was tied for the lead with Yang and Cartwright, and only a botched two foot par save separated her from the playoff eventually won by the teenage Yang. Scheduling issues, alas, forced her to miss this year's ANZ. But considering the great 2006 she had on the US amateur circuit, we will probably be hearing from Joh again before the year is through.

It fell to the KLPGA stars in the field to mount the most effective challenge for the title, just as they had the previous week at the Australian Open. That event had returned after a few years in limbo to regain its place as one of the most significant events on the Australian golf schedule. Unfortunately, the Open has always been an event that Webb loves, and she dominated the proceedings, not really giving anyone else a chance to get in the game. By the end of the third round, only Taiwanese golfer Yun-Jye Wei was even within eight shots of Webb's score. Webb wound up cruising to a six shot win. But several KLPGA stars managed decent finishes, including KLPGA superstar Ji Yai Shin, who finished tied for fifth, KLPGA #2 player Hee Young Park, who was tied for tenth, and second year player Sun Ju Ahn, who wound up tied for 7th at even par for the week.

All three of those women, as well as other KLPGA players like Ran Hong, Na Yeon Choi, Eun Hee Ji and Hae Jung Kim, played the ANZ as well. And unlike at the Open, Webb actually started fairly slow at the ANZ, giving the Korean ladies a look at possibly upsetting her for the title. The player who took best advantage of that opening was Ahn. Ahn had been thoroughly outclassed by Shin for the Rookie of the Year title in 2006 in Korea, but on the first day it was Ahn who looked like the superstar.

Ahn played her round early on Thursday morning. Starting on the tenth hole, she made birdies on 10, 11, 13, 15, 17 and 18 to absolutely blister her opening nine holes. She added two more birdies early on the back nine and finished with an 8 under par 64 for the day, good for a two shot lead when all was said and done. Webb started the tournament with a 71. For the moment, at least, the advantage was to the Korean golfers.

No other Korean in the field got out to remotely that good a start, but there were a few others who staked their claims on the leaderboard on day one. Among them was LPGA rookie-to-be Eun Hee Ji, who shot a 68, and amateur Haeji Kang, who was the low amateur in the field on day one with a 69. Ji Yai Shin shot a 70, as did Hee Young Park, while Amy Yang got out to a decent start with a one under par 71.

Sun Ju's fun continued on the second day. Playing this time in the afternoon, she shot a 4 under par 68 to maintain her hold over the leaderboard. She had at one point a three shot lead, but a bogey on the tough final hole dropped her lead to just one over Australian golfer Michelle Ellis. Webb, meanwhile, continued to fumble and bumble, although she did manage to play just well enough to get to 5 under par and remain a dangerous lurker on the leaderboard.

While all that was going on, another Korean made her push for the top. That player was Ji Yai Shin, who was probably not happy to see her former Rookie competitor Ahn hog all the spotlight. Shin shot a 6 under par 66 on this day to vault up the leaderboard. She finished the day at 8 under par, 4 shots behind Ahn in a tie for 4th. With two days to play, she had a great chance to add this tournament to her growing resume of triumphs. Also excelling on day two was Eun Hee Ji, who followed her day one 68 with a 69 to sit in a tie for 6th at 7 under.

On the downside, Hee Young Park was only able to shoot a 71 on day two, and sat at 3 under, nine shots out of the lead. It would take an amazing effort for this star to be a factor come Sunday. And Amy Yang, as mentioned before, wound up missing the cut in her title defense. She shot a disappointing 3 over par 75 for a 2 over par total, two shots off the cut line. There will be other triumphs to come for this 17 year old superstar in the making.

On Saturday, Ji Yai Shin (pictured) continued her brilliant play, scorching the field with a second straight 6 under par 66. And yet, she still lost ground, this time to 5 time ANZ winner Karrie Webb. Webb was absolutely on fire, shooting a 10 under par 62 and breaking the all time tournament record for low score in the process. It must be terribly frustrating for Shin to play so well and still lose four strokes to an opponent! Webb thus catapulted all the way into a tie for the lead with Michelle Ellis at 15 under par. Shin was only one shot behind her at 14 under par, and would play with the two Aussies in the final group on Sunday. Had Webb shot her wad? Would the partisan crowd affect Shin's chances? Could Shin defeat one of the best golfers in the world on her home soil, in an event she had won so many times in the past?

Sun Ju Ahn had her first so so round of the tournament, but still shot an even par 72 to finish the day where she started, at 12 under total. That left her just three shots out of the lead, with a fairly decent chance to still capture the crown. She was tied with American Cristie Kerr, who shot a 66 in round three. No other Korean was anywhere near the top of the leaderboard, although Hee Young Park shot a 69 and had moved into reach of a top ten. The honor of the KLPGA rested on Shin's and Ahn's shoulders.

But a win for the Korean contingent was not in the cards this year. Webb played well on the front nine on Sunday, making a ridiculous four birdies in the first eight holes to move to 19 under. Shin kept pace for a while, while Ellis faltered during the same period. Trailing by two shots, Shin still had a reasonable chance of pulling out the event when they reached the par 5 ninth hole. But here Webb reached the green in two and drained a crushing eagle, while Ji Yai was only able to make par. This staked Webb to a four shot lead at 21 under par, and from then on, Webb entered cruise control and won the event in a walk. For her part, Shin played well, shooting a three under par 69 to finish all by herself in second place, one shot ahead of Cristie Kerr and two shots behind Webb's eventual winning score of 19 under par. It was the second time in the past year that Shin had managed to beat Kerr in a tournament, and she also beat another top 20 golfer in Natalie Gulbis, who finished well down the leaderboard. So though it wasn't her day to collect a trophy, she continued her blistering play of 2007, which had also seen her finished 5th at the Australian Open and third at the Women's World Cup (playing with Young Kim). She continues to be one of the most promising of the Korean up and comers, and definitely a player to watch in the coming months. She will have a chance to play both at the Nabisco Championship and the US Women's Open, the latter thanks to a rule change that extends invitations to the top three players on the KLPGA tour every year. It will be exciting to see what she can do against a Major caliber field.

Sun Ju Ahn had a great tournament herself, finishing solo fourth place at 14 under total. One other Korean Young Ran Jo, snuck into the top ten, finishing tied for 10th at 10 under par (this is not the same golfer as LPGA player Young Jo). Hee Young Park just missed the top ten, finishing tied for 12th at 9 under.