Slammed!

Over the years, the Kraft Nabisco, the LPGA's first Major of the year, has been the site of a lot of drama. But precious little of that drama has involved the Seoul Sisters. Every other Major on tour has been won by Koreans more than once in the past ten years, but this event has only seen one year where a Seoul Sister claimed the top prize. That year was 2004, where the tournament came down to a battle between two Asian stars: Seoul Sister mainstay Grace Park and Thai-Korean rookie sensation Aree Song. Grace had established herself as one of the top five players on tour, but had yet to taste Major success. Song had been a superstar as a teenage amateur, and now was trying to start her pro career in the most amazing way possible: with a Major triumph. Grace managed to get control of the tournament, and, coming into the 18th hole, Song was going to need some magic to make it interesting. She got it. She reached the green in two shots, then sunk a super-clutch 25 foot eagle putt to move into a tie for the lead. Grace needed to make a six footer for birdie to win the event outright. She later admitted she was so nervous that she could barely pull the putter back, but she made the shot and took the traditional winner's dive into the greenside pool. Grace later described it as the highlight of her career.

Se Ri Pak is playing her tenth year on the tour. She qualified for the Hall of Fame several years ago, when she won the 2004 Michelob Ultra Open, but had to wait until she had been on tour for ten years before she could officially enter the Hall of Fame. Now, it's just a matter of waiting: once she's played two rounds at her tenth event of 2007, she will officially make it through that door.

But there is another career goal Se Ri has had that has proved to be far more elusive. Since she collected the British Open crown in 2001, Se Ri has been only one tournament win away from achieving the career Grand Slam - winning all four Majors on tour. The one tournament that has constantly evaded her has been the Kraft Nabisco. She hasn't really ever come close to winning it, either, although in the early 2000s, she did put herself into contention early a few times. Still, her best finish at the event had been only 9th place. Over the years, she has insisted that there is no reason why she should have problems at the event, that she finds the course enjoyable to play and well suited to her game. In general, she has tended to start playing her best on tour around May each year, so perhaps the problem is that the event is too early in the year for her? Maybe, but she has won events early in the year before; in 2003, she even won the event immediately preceding the Nabisco, the Safeway International. Or perhaps she lets nerves get to her, being that this event is so important to her? That might be a better explanation, although Pak has always been a player who has an amazing ability to use nervous energy to her advantage. Whatever the reason, she came into the 2007 edition of the tournament hoping to finally collect the trophy she wanted more than any other, hoping to at last take the victory dive into the pond by the 18th green on Sunday afternoon.

Several players came into this event playing well, hoping they could make this Major their first. Shi Hyun Ahn was coming off two straight top ten finishes, but perhaps more impressive has been her recent record in Majors. In 2006, she finished in the top ten at three of the four Majors, and didn't do that badly at the fourth one, either. Everything pointed towards her having a good week in Rancho Mirage, but would it be a phenomenal one? Mi Hyun Kim has perennially been a top player, but Major success has eluded her her entire career. She has come close a few times: last year at the LPGA Championship, she was in contention much of the final day, but could not beg, borrow or steal a birdie putt despite numerous close calls (Ahn, too, came achingly close to winning that event). Se Ri Pak pipped Kim that day, and also beat Kim the time when she came closest to winning a Major, at the 2001 British Open. She had started the day far ahead of Pak, but had to watch as Se Ri zoomed ahead of her and finished her round. Kim tried but simply could not catch Pak, and wound up second, the first one-two Major finish ever for the Korean golfers. Among the other Korean stars, Grace Park was on the comeback trail and was hoping to make noise, and Hee-Won Han was playing in her final event before taking her long break to have her child. Then there was Jee Young Lee, who has come the closest of all the Korean golfers to claiming a win in 2007. Her length off the tee would definitely come in handy on this desert course.

The players who had most of the attention coming into the week were not the Koreans, however. Lorena Ochoa, the Player of the Year in 2006, had yet to win a Major, but she had just won the event the previous week and looked poised to break through. Annika Sorenstam was a multiple winner of the Nabisco, and was always a threat. Then there was the defending champion Karrie Webb. Webb had made one of the year's most amazing shots when she holed out her approach on the 72nd hole to leap into the lead; ever since, she had been the top player on tour not from Mexico. Another top draw, Korean American Michelle Wie, had come close to winning in 2006, but was suffering from a wrist injury that sidelined her this season.

Besides the usual suspects from the LPGA tour, a few other interesting Korean players got into the field. Only two of this year's Korean LPGA rookies qualified for the event. Jin Joo Hong got in by virtue of being a tournament winner, while Angela Park (pictured) made it thanks to having finished in the top 20 at the 2006 event, where she had played as a 17 year old amateur. Park lives in Southern California and clearly enjoys playing these types of courses, so she was a player to watch. This year, the sponsors also extended invites to the top two players from last year's KLPGA tour. That allowed Hee Young Park and Ji Yai Shin to get into the field. Shin has been on a real roll the last two years, finishing in the top 10 virtually every week she tees it up. This would be her first Major, and the first chance to see how she performs against a field of the best players in the world. Several amateur Korean stars also made the field, including top junior player Esther Choe from Arizona, 2006 US Amateur winner Kimberly Kim, and Duke standout Jennie Lee.

Early in round one, the player who established the pace was Shi Hyun Ahn (pictured). She wound up shooting a majestic four under par 68, which for a long time towered over the rest of the field, which struggled to make par. She only missed one fairway and three greens all day. Why were the scores generally so high? Well, it wasn't because of the conditions: the wind was calm, and there was no rain. Rather, it was the rough, which had been grown to punishing, Major quality length. Par was going to be a good score today; anyone who could finish under par was really overachieving. This made Ahn's accomplishment all the more impressive. Her final total consisted of six birdies and only two bogies. Jee Young Lee also got out to a good start with a 2 under par 70. Hee-Won Han started her tournament with an even par round, as did Sarah Lee and Christina Kim, and Angela Park and Hee Young Park both carded one over par 73s.

In the afternoon session, Mi Hyun Kim started like a house on fire, making birdies on holes two and three, then adding another on 7 to move to 3 under par, just a shot out of the lead. But on the back nine she really started to struggle, missing fairways and making bogies. In the end, she made five bogies on the back nine and no birdies and finished the day at 2 over par. Kimmie played the first day with Grace Park, who also shot a 74.

Meanwhile, Se Ri Pak got off to a pretty good start. On the front nine, she was by and large keeping herself out of trouble, but not making the birdie putts she had available. She did make one on the 7th hole, and finished her front nine one under par. But she made a three putt bogey on the 10th to fall back to even, and spent the rest of the day missing makeable birdie putts, sometimes by the slimmest of margins. For instance, on 12, she hit a massive 270 yard uphill drive, hit a great approach that spun back towards the hole, then missed the 12 foot birdie by an inch. But when she missed a green and had to get up and down, she was able to do that, too. On the par 3 14th, she missed the green, and her putt from the fairway was not a good one. But she still made the four foot par save with ease. In the end, Se Ri finished the day at even par, tied for 11th.

Some of the Koreans had bad days, unfortunately, but that was to be expected on this tough course. Rookie Jin Joo Hong, the other Korean rookie in the field, shot an 80 and would go on to miss the cut. Sung Ah Yim and Birdie Kim also shot 80s. The amateur contingent struggled. Kimberly Kim shot a 78, Jennie Lee an 80, Esther Choe (pictured) a 77. Seon Hwa Lee had put herself into contention after three rounds in 2006, but this year she opened with a 78 and would go on to miss her first cut since joining the LPGA tour.

By the time the day ended, Shi Hyun Ahn had the solo lead at 4 under, with Lorena Ochoa right behind her at 3 under. But at least one great player struggled on this day. Annika Sorenstam shot a 3 over par 75 and found herself closer to the cut line than the front of the pack. But Webb shot a 2 under par 70, putting herself right in the thick of things.