2007 Safeway International

The Safeway International is perennially one of the top stops on the LPGA tour. It has been the site of some memorable Seoul Sister moments. In 2001, Annika Sorenstam became the first female golfer in history to shoot a 59 at this tournament, but what is not so remembered is that, despite this feat, she very nearly lost the tournament to Se Ri Pak, who made an enormous nine shot comeback over the final two days and only barely lost the event in the final few holes. In 2003, Se Ri (pictured) and Grace Park staged a great battle here after both came from behind to pass Sorenstam. The battle was finally won by Se Ri despite some fantastic play from Grace (and Hee-Won Han finished third, the first one-two-three finish for the Koreans in LPGA history).

In 2006, the Koreans nearly won the event again: for most of the week, Sarah Lee and Aree Song were leading the pack, and it looked like the title would come down to one of those two young Koreans becoming a first time winner. But on Sunday the weather got
harsh, and Juli Inkster roared from behind to take the title away from the two stunned Koreans. She literally caught Lee on just about the last hole on Sunday, a crushing disappointment for the frequent runner up.

In the first three events of 2007, the Koreans had not been able to claim a title, and the bad mojo continued at the Safeway. By the time two rounds were complete, Lorena Ochoa held a three shot lead at 11 under total, with Catriona Matthew in second at 8 under and Suzann Pettersen third at 7 under. The top Korean was Jeong Jang, tied in fourth place at 6 under par. JJ has a history of playing well at Safeway sponsored events: she has finished second at the Safeway Classic, the Safeway sponsored event held in Portland in August, three times in her career. Tied with JJ was another Korean, Gloria Park. Hee-Won Han was right behind them in a tie for 6th with yet another Korean star, Shi Hyun Ahn, at 4 under par. Yet another top Korean, Mi Hyun Kim, was tied for 8th place at 3 under. Also in the top 20 after two rounds were Irene Cho, Sarah Lee, Young Jo, Jee Young Lee, and Il Mi Chung. So the Korean golfers were doing well, but they were just far enough back that, once again, it would take a fantastic performance for one or more of them to seriously challenge Ochoa for the trophy.

On the down side, Se Ri Pak had shot a 77 on day one, and even a relatively strong bounceback 71 on Friday was not enough to get her past the cut line; she missed the cut by one shot. Grace Park shot a 4 over par 76 on day two, but made the cut on the number at 3 over par. Christina Kim, Song-Hee Kim and Jimin Kang were among those who missed the cut.

The best round on Saturday was turned in by a Korean golfer. Grace Park, playing in front of her adopted hometown fans, was absolutely on fire, shooting a 7 under par 65 to vault up the leaderboard. She had barely made the cut on day two, but ended day three at 4 under, good for a tie for 14th. She was in good shape to get her first top ten in more than a year if she could keep it up. Amazingly, after all was said and done on Saturday, there were six Koreans in the top ten, but none of them were all that close to the leader Ochoa. Ochoa had done what she needed to do, shooting a 3 under par 69 on the third day to finish the round at 14 under, 4 shots clear of her nearest pursuers. Those pursuers were JJ and Pettersen. JJ had played decently all day, but finished with back to back birdies to shoot her second 68 in three rounds. She would need to go low in all likelihood to knock off the reigning LPGA Player of the Year. None of the other Koreans really were in position to challenge Ochoa, but that doesn't mean there weren't some good performances from the Sisters. Shi Hyun Ahn (pictured) shot a 68 to move to 8 under, tied for 4th. Il Mi Chung finished in fifth at 6 under, while Young Jo, Hee-Won Han and Gloria Park all tied for 9th at 5 under.

An offbeat occurrence happened during the third round. Mi Hyun Kim was standing on one of the greens waiting to take her shot, when suddenly a ball came whizzing out of nowhere and flew by her. As it turned out, there is another golf course next to this one, and a truly awful amateur hit a shot so offline that it completely left his course and nearly nailed poor Kimmie! Fortunately, she was not that close to getting hit, but it was a weird occurrence nonetheless!

On Sunday, one of the two players tied for second made a surprising run up the leaderboard. Unfortunately, that player was not Jeong Jang. Jang struggled, playing in the final group with Ochoa. She made a bogey right off the bat on the first hole, and added three more bogies compared with just one birdie on her front nine. Meanwhile, Pettersen was on fire, making birdies on five of her first seven holes. Thus, she managed to catch and pass Ochoa, and for much of the rest of the day, it looked as though Pettersen was going to take the crown. Meanwhile, Jee Young Lee got out to a good start, with birdies on her first two holes, but was not able to do much more, while Shi Hyun Ahn was also not able to make much headway. So by the midway point on Sunday, the battle came down to Pettersen and Ochoa, with Pettersen holding the upper hand.

Interestingly, a Korean did play a significant part in the outcome of the tournament, at least indirectly. On the 15th hole, JJ (pictured) kicked her game up a notch and started making birdies. Ochoa, paired with JJ, was inspired, and matched JJ's play with birdies of her own. Both players wound up birdieing four of the final five holes, and that proved to be enough to lift Ochoa past Pettersen to the title. JJ, who had sunk as far as 6 under par, rose back to 10 under and a tie for third, her best finish of the season to that point. As for Pettersen, she would have to wait to collect her first LPGA win another day.

In the end, the Safeway International was another disappointing tournament for the Korean stars. Although JJ notched a third place, Jee Young Lee a seventh, and several other Koreans finished in the top 20, once again no Seoul Sister was really in position to win this come the final nine holes. With consistent play from Jee Young Lee and Shi Hyun Ahn and promising showings from stars like JJ, Kimmie, Se Ri and Grace over the past few weeks, however, it should only be a matter of time before one of those stars gets the Korean golfers back on the winning track.