2007 Fields Open: Jelly on a Roll

The Fields Open is the second event of the LPGA season. Taking place at the end of February each year, it marks the second of back to back events in Hawaii every year. Like the event that precedes it, the SBS Open, it is sponsored by an Asian company (Fields is a Japanese company, SBS a Korean TV network), and is a three day event that starts on Thursday and ends on Saturday (so that the final round can be broadcast on Sunday in Asia). Both events take place on the island of Oahu, the SBS at the Turtle Bay Resort on the north side of the island, the Fields at Ko'Olina Resort on the southwest side. In 2006 they had something else in common: both events were won by Korean golfers in playoffs where they beat other Korean golfers. Joo Mi Kim beat Soo Young Moon and Lorena Ochoa in a 2 hole playoff at SBS, while Meena Lee (pictured) collected her second career title by beating Seon Hwa Lee in a three hole playoff at the Fields. For Seon Hwa, Fields was the event that established her as a bonified threat to win the 2006 Rookie of the Year award; her second place finish was the first of four top twos she would achieve during the year.

Coming into the Fields, the Korean contingent worldwide was not having a banner 2007. At the ANZ Master two weeks earlier, Amy Yang, who had won the 2006 edition of that event, missed the cut in her title defense. Joo Mi Kim then missed the cut in her defense at the SBS Open, and no Korean finished in the top five. Alas, at the Fields, this unfortunate trend continued, and Meena Lee would also go on to miss the cut in HER title defense. But on the other hand, other Seoul Sisters did show up to play at Fields, and they would turn it into an exciting weekend for the fans of the Korean golfers.

In the first round, the early lead was taken by one of the first players to go out in the morning, and also one of the youngest players on the LPGA tour. That player was rookie Angela Park. She birdied five holes on the front nine, and added two more birdies and a single bogey on the tenth hole on the back for a 6 under 66 and, at the time, a three shot lead over the field. She got a little lucky in that, thanks to her early tee time, she missed the brunt of the windy conditions, which hit later in the day. But regardless of that, she had a simply fantastic round, with her ball striking and putting firing on all cylinders.

Park is a fairly interesting and unique presence among the Korean contingent. She was born and raised in Iguazu Falls, Brazil, near the world famous waterfall of the same name. Obviously she is trilingual, speaking English, Portuguese and Korean. Her parents were both born in Korea but decided to move to Brazil before Angela was born. They opened and ran a successful embroidery factory there. But at some point, they decided that they should move to the States, to allow Angela to benefit from the better educational system there. So, they moved to Torrance, California. Angela took up golf there and quickly became one of the top players in the junior ranks. Towards the end of her amateur days, she even played in a few LPGA Majors, finishing tied for 15th at the final one she played, the 2006 Kraft Nabisco. She turned pro right after that and joined the Futures Tour. She was consistently one of the top players on the Futures Tour in 2006, but had missed out on earning an LPGA tour card there by a few hundred dollars. She went to Q-School, where she finished fifth and earned her exemption that way.

In her interviews after her round on this day, she was quite forthright about her goal: Rookie of the Year. In fact, she is so gung ho about getting that award that she even uses it as motivation on days when she's lazy: "Every time I don't want to practice or I just want to go home and just take a nap and it's like two o'clock and I'm like, okay, no, no, I've got to practice," she told the press. "Everything keeps popping back in my head, rook of the year, rook of the year, so it's a good determination for me right now."

In the afternoon wave, Thai-American Stacy Prammanasudh matched Park's 66, and so after day one, those two were tied atop the leaderboard. But right behind them at 5 under par was none other than Se Ri Pak. Coming off a great final round at the previous event (her 69 was tied for low round of the day there), Se Ri put together another beauty, in far windier conditions than Park had faced in the morning. Her 67 included some scintillating shots. Playing with Cristie Kerr and Christina Kim, Se Ri consistently outdrove and outplayed her partners, sometimes to an outrageous degree. On the 10th hole, she hit a downwind drive of 314 yards and left herself a tiny pitch shot for her approach. Unfortunately, she was behind a tree, and in pitching it over that, did not get it close to the hole. But she made the 30 foot putt anyway for birdie. She also had a couple of brilliant, powerful iron shots that got close to the hole for kick in birdies. It was the kind of round Se Ri fans were hoping to see again.

Perhaps the most interesting round of the day was turned in by Se Ri's playing partner Christina. Christina struggled mightily at first, falling all the way to five over par at the turn, but got things going in a major way on the back. She made five straight birdies to end her day at even par, a fantastic comeback after near disaster. Christina is still not where she was a few years ago, but she seems to be gaining more confidence as the season goes on.

Some other Korean golfers also scored well on day one. Kyeong Bae, who was so promising as a rookie in 2006, really struggled towards the end of that season, to the point where it looked like she had completely lost her confidence. But on day one she had one of her best rounds in ages, a four under par 68 that left her in a tie for fourth. Also scoring well was Jeong Jang, who shot a 69, which included a chip in birdie on the final hole. She is a noted wind player, so her results in the windy conditions should come as no surprise. Then there was Jee Young Lee, who led the field in driving distance. She shot a 69 for a tie for 6th. Among the rookies, Song-Hee Kim, who had missed the cut badly in her first LPGA event, rebounded nicely with a 70 on day one to finish tied for 10th. She would struggle more as the event progressed, ending up with a tied for 45th finish, but that was still a vast improvement over what she had done at the SBS Open. None of the other Korean rookies really excelled on this day.

On day two, the course was beset with weather that eventually ended up cutting the action short. The morning golfers generally had it easier than the afternoon ones, so Se Ri looked like she was in good position to really shine. Unfortunately, after shooting a brilliant 67 in tough conditions on Thursday, on Friday, in relatively benign conditions, she struggled. She was one of the only players who started the day in the top ten to shoot over par, producing a one over par 73. She seemed to really struggle in her long game this day, but her putting wasn't bailing her out, either. All in all, it was just a tough slog, but fortunately her round turned out to be better than it could have been. She finished the round in 15th place, potentially still capable of winning with a fantastic score on Saturday, but more likely gunning for a top five with a good day. Kyeong Bae was also not able to take advantage of her good first day, shooting an even par round to fall into a tie with Se Ri at 4 under par.

But several other Korean golfers did quite well on day two. Playing in the afternoon, Jee Young Lee (pictured) in particular was on fire. She managed to get herself to 6 under par for her round at one point before the rains came in buckets and canceled play for the day. When play stopped she was at 9 under par total, just one shot behind Stacy Prammanasudh. Angela Park was also at 9 under, but she still had nine holes to play when action ceased. It was going to be some challenge for her to win the tournament when she had to play 27 holes on Saturday, but the win was still very much within reach. If it happened, she would become the youngest woman to ever win a multi-round tournament on the LPGA tour at just 18 and a half years old. Among the other Koreans who were in reach were Mi Hyun Kim at 6 under and Aram Cho at 5 under. Cho had struggled since joining the LPGA tour in 2005. She had never been exempt, and had not been able to maintain her status on tour without going to Q-School. But in 2006, she won an exempt card at Q-School, and was already showing signs that she intended to keep it in 2007. Now, for the first time in her career, she was poised to collect not only a top twenty, but possibly a top ten.

On Sunday, the second round was completed, and Angela Park and Stacy Prammanasudh, for the second straight day, were tied for the lead. Their scores were 10 under par. Jee Young Lee finished the day at 9 under, and those three played in the final group in round three.

In round three, Se Ri Pak and Mi Hyun Kim both played pretty well, but neither was able to get themselves into contention. For a while, Se Ri was playing well enough to potentially snag a top ten, but a late bogey on the 17th hole cost her. Nonetheless, she produced a 70, good for a 14th place finish, but just one shot out of a tie for 10th. Hardly sensational stuff, but considering how terribly she had started her year the past few seasons, starting with two top 20s was a promising sign. Kimmie played better, eventually shooting a 69 to finish at 9 under and a tie for 8th. It was her first top ten of the season. Even more impressively, Aram Cho shot a 70 on this day to snag a tie for 10th, her first ever top ten. Kyeong Bae finished tied with Se Ri at 6 under, her best finish on tour in ages, while fellow second year star Seon Hwa Lee finished at 5 under, tied for 21st. The previous year she had nearly won this event, so it was a bit of a letdown to be out of it this year, but her finish was hardly one to feel ashamed about.

Meanwhile, yet another second year Korean golfer, Jee Young Lee, was still very much in contention for the win. Prammanasudh had started her day with two early birdies, and looked ready to run away with this title, but Lee made a birdie herself on the second hole, and continued to play solidly the rest of the front nine. At the turn, Prammanasudh was at 12 under par, but Lee and Angela Park were right on her tail at 11 under. Several other players, meanwhile, were coming from behind to put on some pressure. Cristie Kerr was on a tear, shooting a 65 to finish her round at 10 under par. It did not look like this would be good enough to win, but if the wind kicked up, it was still possible the leaders could fall back to that level. Ai Miyazato was also playing well, doubtless making the Japanese sponsors happy. She would end up carding a 66 to finish at 11 under, and was very much a factor much of the afternoon.