2008 Women's World Cup

Day two featured the alternate shot format, and as can be expected, the scores became a lot worse. The Koreans missed a few makeable putts, especially Shin, but they were still playing pretty decently during this tough format. After trading an early bogey and birdie, they made mostly pars, occasionally sprinkling a birdie in there for good measure. By the time Shin dunked a ten foot birdie putt on the 8th hole, Korea had moved to a four shot lead over Taiwan, Canada and the Philippines. It was beginning to look as though Korea was in the driver's seat, much like Paraguay had been the previous year. But there was still a lot of golf left to play.

One worrisome trend was that Korea, particularly Ji Yai Shin, was missing a number of makeable birdies by the barest of margins. She did it again on the tenth hole. It allowed Ji to have some pretty easy tap in pars, but they certainly wanted to pad their lead with birdies if they could. Still, things were going Korea's way. Taiwan kept a little pressure on, finishing the day at 9 under. But Korea continued to play well. Ji hit a nice pitch on the par 5 11th to a few feet, with Shin dunking the birdie to regain their 4 shot lead. Ji made a clutch par save on 13 from about ten feet to move to a five shot lead at the time. By this point, the rain started coming down in buckets, but for the moment, at least, the Koreans maintained their cool. In a veritable monsoon, Shin chipped her ball to a foot for an easy Ji par save on 14. Another birdie on 15 after a great Shin approach to five feet moved them to 14 under total.

Meanwhile, the Philippines fell back to 7 under total, and looked like they were falling out of the tournament. But it was precisely at that point when Delasin and Rosales launched a most improbable comeback. Neither player had been having a very good time on the golf course the past couple of years. Although they had both been strong golfers in the past (Delasin has 4 LPGA wins and beat Grace Park for the 2000 Rookie of the Year award, and Rosales had two wins herself), they had both had mediocre to horrendous seasons of late, especially Rosales. But suddenly, at the end of their second round, they started playing like women on a mission. They carded a birdie on 14 to move into a tie for second at 8 under. But starting on 16, they started to have the kind of good fortune that doesn't happen often on a golf course. Jennifer Rosales dunked a 30 foot birdie putt on the soaking wet green right into the center of the cup for birdie. They made another one on 17, then Rosales, in virtually a rerun of 16, dunked another lengthy birdie putt on 18 to move to 11 under total and second place. Everything was going in for the Philippines on those last few holes, but even so, they still had a three shot deficit to the Koreans.

The Koreans had a nice par on 16, but then came hole 17. Oh no, you must be saying. Surely that hole cannot cost the Koreans AGAIN, can it? Unfortunately, it can and it did. It started with Ji, who hit a terrible drive that landed in some nasty rough on a severe slope. Shin did not have a very good shot from there, but she took a swing at it anyway, and barely moved the ball at all. This is a perfect example of how not to handle your course management. Shin had very little chance to do anything with that ball. Had she taken a drop they had a chance to walk off the hole with a bogey and a two shot lead. Instead, she hit the shot, got them into an even worse position, and they had to take the penalty drop anyway. Only now, Ji was hitting her fourth shot, not her third. That shot landed right of the green in the fringe. But Shin hit a poor putt from there, Ji was not able to make the comebacker, and they walked off 17 with a disastrous triple bogey 7 that dropped them back into a tie for the lead with the Philippines. They did manage to par 18, and so after day two was done, they were tied for the lead at 11 under, with Taiwan two shots back at 9 under. Would Korea be able to recover from this major setback and take the cup? The odds were still on their side. After all, they had Ji Yai Shin on their team, who had won 11 tournaments in 2007. If anyone knows how to close out a tournament, it's her. On the other hand, the Philippines players were getting the kind of putting karma that usually leads to victory. If Korea were to win, they were going to have to play very, very well.

On Sunday, again playing the better ball format, the Philippines again drew first blood, making birdie on the first and third holes to take a two shot lead over Korea. But there was a major momentum swing about to happen. On the par 5 6th hole, neither Delasin nor Rosales were able to make even a par, and they carded a bogey that dropped them back to 12 under. At the same time, Shin, in a bunker in two, holed out for eagle. Just like that, Korea was back in the lead by one. Korea followed that up with another birdie on 6, and moved to a 2 shot lead, which they would hold on to the rest of the front nine.

But after that, Korea's putters went ice cold, while the Philippines started to warm up. On the 11th hole, both Shin and Ji had ten-fifteen foot birdie tries, but both missed. But Rosales, the only Filipina with that length birdie, made hers, and they cut Korea's lead to one. On 12, Ji hit her tee shot into the mess, as did Shin. Ji had to punch out, but hit her third to ten feet; Shin's third ended up about sixty feet away. So it was up to Ji to salvage the par, which she did, to the relief of both players. Nonetheless, Rosales dunked a birdie on the same hole to move back into a tie for the lead. The Koreans were not quite able to dodge the bullet, but it could have been a lot worse.

After both teams parred 13, Shin missed the green on 14, but Ji got to about 20 feet and made the birdie, moving Korea again into the lead. On 15, neither Korean made her birdie, and once again only one of the Filipinas, Delasin, had a birdie try. But she made it, and the tournament was again tied.

It was at this point that the unbelievable putting karma of the Philippines team again kicked into gear, and there was nothing the Koreans could seem to do to stop it. On the 16th hole, in fact, they didn't even need to putt; Delasin missed the green to the left, but chipped in for birdie from the fringe to take the lead. Shin and Ji both had twenty foot birdie tries, and both missed. In just two holes, Korea had gone from momentum and a one shot lead to a one shot deficit, facing the hole that they had triple bogied the day before.

On 17, both Rosales and Shin missed the green by a lot, while Ji and Delasin were in the back of the green with medium difficulty birdie tries. But Shin managed to get up and down after nailing a twenty foot par save, so Ji was free to go for her birdie try. She did not hit a very good putt, though, and now it came down to Delasin. Faced with another putt from the fringe, from about the same distance as Ji, she once again buried it in the bottom of the cup for her third straight birdie. While the two players jumped for joy, the Koreans must have realized their chances to win the match had just been dealt a crippling blow. But there was still a slight chance. If Shin or Ji could eagle the par 5 18th hole, they might be able to put pressure on Delasin and Rosales to make birdie.

There was a slight chance. Delasin put her drive into the trees and had to lay up. Rosales likewise was in the deep rough, and also laid up. Ji and Shin were both in the fairway, but they would have to reach a green surrounded by water in two to have a realistic chance for the win. Ji went first, but her approach was short and landed in the drink. Next Shin hit. Her shot would pretty much determine the tournament. She hit a great shot, but a little right. It hit a rock next to the green, bounced high into the air and came down right on the green, about thirty feet from the hole!!! What a miraculous break! The Korean team still had a shot to win it all. It was even more amazing in that, in the previous year's event, Shin had hit an approach into the 18th hole, had hit the rock, and watched her ball bounce back into the water. This time, the golf gods gave her a gift.

But as it turned out, it wasn't enough. Shin came close, but her eagle putt missed the hole and she tapped in for birdie. Both Philippine players were on the green and had birdie chances, but even pars would be good enough to win. But fittingly, that wasn't necessary, as for the fourth straight hole, Delasin buried a longish birdie putt to take the outright win. Korea would have to settle for solo second, their best finish at this event, but still doubtless a disappointment considering how the two Philippines players had been playing before this week. Still, they had no reason to feel that bad. Their 5 under par 67 on the final day was still tied for the 4th best score of the day; they just had the bad luck of being tied with the team that shot the best score of the day, a 65.

It was in a way the kind of thing that had been happening to Korean golfers all over the world for the last six months. Either a superstar player would run away with the tournament early, or a totally unexpected player(s) would suddenly raise their game at just the right moment to take a promising Korean down. Certainly few at the start of the week were expecting the Philippines to take the title. But on the other hand, the Koreans have started their year with a bang, and really played pretty well barring that one disastrous outing on 17; hopefully that indicates we have a great year of Koreans contending and winning events ahead of us.