2007 Ginn Open

In just two years, the Ginn Open (formerly the Ginn Clubs & Resorts Open) has become one of the biggest tournaments on the LPGA tour. This is in large part thanks to an enormous financial commitment to the tour by the Ginn organization. When they founded the tournament, they made everyone sit up and take notice by giving it a purse larger than almost any other event on tour. For a while they got into a battle with the Evian Masters to see which event would be the second largest purse on tour (behind only the US Women's Open). In the end, the Ginn wound up with the third highest purse on tour.

In that first year, virtually every major women's golfer was in the field, and many of the top players were in contention come the final day. Going into the final round, however, the top player on the leaderboard was a Seoul Sister: Mi Hyun Kim. Kimmie had been one of the top golfers on tour since her rookie year of 1999, but by the time 2006 arrived, it had been four years since the last time she had collected a trophy. Going into Sunday, she had a three shot lead over the field, and a seven shot lead over Lorena Ochoa, who would soon rise to become the top player of 2006. Kim was incredibly nervous going into the final day with her best chance to win in ages, and unfortunately it took only a few holes for Ochoa to chip away that lead to nothing. To make matters worse, Karrie Webb and Annika Sorenstam were also making big runs at the top of the leaderboard. If Peanut were going to finally break her winless streak, she was going to have to beat some of the top players on tour, all playing well, to do it.

She showed the kind of grit and heart she has by doing just that. Every time it looked like Ochoa or one of the other players was about to take control of the event, Kim would make a timely birdie or par save to reassert herself. The key moment came on the 17th hole, a lengthy par five. Kim blasted her drive right down the center of the fairway. As it turned out, her drive was more than 290 yards, an enormous distance for such a tiny player. With her second shot, she reached the green by taking the ball over several deep bunkers. From there she two putted, and locked up the title one hole later with a two putt par on 18 that also almost became a birdie. Kimmie gleefully pocketed the winner's check as well as the keys to a new car, but perhaps the best moment came when they presented her with the trophy, a marvelous sculpture created by famed glass sculptor Dale Chihuly. The sculpture was indeed lovely, but it was hardly designed for ease of lifting, and the tiny Kim found herself struggling to maintain her grip on it as it spilled out of her arms. Fortunately she did not drop it, and today it has a central spot in her living room as the favorite of her seven career LPGA trophies.

By the time this tournament arrived in 2006, the Korean golfers had already won three events on tour, and Amy Yang had claimed the ANZ Masters as well. This year, the Koreans have not been able to win any LPGA events, and have only occasionally even had a good chance to do so. But as usual, they sent a full compliment of top players to Orlando, hoping to claim that elusive first win. The players who had been the hottest coming into this week included Shi Hyun Ahn, who had racked up three straight top tens in her first three events of the season; Se Ri Pak, who was hoping to improve on her ninth place finish from the previous year; the always consistent defending champion Mi Hyun Kim; and Jee Young Lee, who was the only Korean in the top ten on the money list at that point. Unlike in 2006, the course was softened up by rain, making it somewhat easier to play, at least at first. The field also became somewhat less illustrious when Annika Sorenstam was forced to drop out due to an injury. She had a problem with her neck that would necessitate her missing several weeks to recuperate. This gave Lorena Ochoa a golden chance to overtake Sorenstam as the official number one player in women's golf with a win at the Ginn. She took little time getting into the hunt, shooting a 6 under par 66 in the first round to take the lead. British star Laura Davies also shot a 66 to share the lead after round one.

Among the Korean golfers, the early surprise leader was Na Ri Kim (pictured), who shot a 4 under par 68 in morning action. Na Ri has had an up and down 2007 season after missing much of last year due to injuries. She opened her year promisingly with a top 20 finish at the SBS Open, but missed her next two cuts. Despite putting herself in the hunt with her 68 this day, and even playing well at the start of round two, she began to struggle after that, and though she easily made the cut, would go on to finish tied for 77th. Tied with Na Ri on this day was another Kim, defending champion Mi Hyun. Kimmie was not putting the ball all that close to the flag to start her round, but boy was she making some great putts. She drilled several long bombs before stuffing an approach shot to a foot on the 14th hole for an easy birdie. At 3 under were rookie In-Kyung Kim and Se Ri Pak. Se Ri played solidly, struggling mainly to put her putts in the cup. Hye Jung Choi also shot a 69 on day one. Shi Hyun Ahn continued her strong play with a 2 under 70, while Il Mi Chung and Seon Hwa Lee shot 71s. On the downside, Young Kim was disqualified when she left the scoring area with an incorrect scorecard, and rookie In-Bee Park struggled to a 7 over par 79. But rookie Ji-Young Oh had her best round of her young career, a one over par 73 that left her with a decent chance to make her first career cut.

The scoring stayed the same in round two, and several Koreans put themselves into position for the weekend. Davies shot out to a big lead, finishing the day at 12 under par. For a long time that was a three or more shot lead on the field, but Ochoa ended her day strongly, catching Davies at 12 under by the end. Mi Hyun Kim continued her solid play, shooting a 3 under par to go to 7 under total, five shots out of first place. Se Ri was solid again, but despite her long drives and decent approaches, she couldn't seem, once again, to buy a break on the putting surface. At times it seemed like every second putt, whether from five feet or fifty, ended up stopping right next to the hole, but almost never seemed to fall in. Despite that, she shot a 70 to move to 5 under, seven shots back. Among the other players in good position were Christina Kim, who shot a great 67 on day two to move to 4 under total; Seon Hwa Lee, who shot a 69 to move to 4 under; and Meena Lee, who, after struggling much of the year, finally put two good rounds together to shoot 3 under and finish the day tied for 14th. Jee Young Lee moved up the leaderboard as well, shooting a 4 under par 68 to finish the day at 3 under.

Two underdogs had good days that allowed them to make their first cuts of the year. Ji Young Oh, in fact, shot her best ever LPGA round, one day after she had broken her previous record. Her 3 under par 69 was her first ever subpar round on tour, and it put the eighteen year old rookie into a tie for 19th. Birdie Kim, meanwhile, had yet to make a cut in 2007. In fact, not only had her game gone south since she won the US Women's Open in 2005, she had also recently been suffering from various illnesses that had affected her game even more. But this week she was feeling quite good, and her 3 under par 69 on this day put her at 1 under total, allowing her to easily make the cut.

A few other notables missed the cut. Song Hee Kim had looked good at one point early to make the cut, but struggled in round two and missed it by one stroke. Amateur Vicky Hurst, a half Korean girl from Florida who had finished runner up in the 2006 US Girl's Junior, also missed the cut with a 4 over par total. Jin Joo Hong, Sung Ah Yim and Soo-Yun Kang were other LPGA tournament winners who failed to make it to the weekend.

In round three, the three players who had been near the top of the leaderboard much of the week continued to control the proceedings; unfortunately, none of them were Korean. By the end of the day, Ochoa and Davies remained tied for the lead at 14 under par, with Americans Brittany Lincicome and Natalie Gulbis trailing behind at 10 under. But the news was not entirely grim for the Koreans. Se Ri Pak (pictured) played marvelously for a third straight day; in fact, Saturday was her strongest day yet. She shot a 4 under par 68 and found herself in solo fifth place. For Se Ri, it was more of the same struggles: a lot of greens, a lot of medium length birdie tries, a lot of putts that stopped within a few inches of the hole for tap-in pars. Another Korean had a fantastic day. Birdie Kim was on fire, building on her made cut with a run of five birdies in seven holes en route to a 6 under par 66. She even had a putt on the 18th hole for birdie that would have given her the all time tournament record, but the putt just missed going in. Birdie was well on her way to the best event she had had in two years.

Several more Koreans found themselves just far enough back to be out of contention, but far enough up to possibly score top tens and win a lot of money. At 6 under were Sarah Lee, Hye Jung Choi and Kimmie. Shi Hyun Ahn, Jee Young Lee and Christina Kim were another shot back at 5 under, while Meena Lee was at 3 under. Most encouragingly, Grace Park shot a 67 to move to 3 under and a tie for 20th. Grace has been inconsistent in 2007, but she has already produced several strong rounds, indicating she may be fairly close to returning to her top form.