Corona Championship: Na On Fire!

It isn't easy to be a nonexempt player on the LPGA tour. Every player without an exempt card on tour is at the mercy of the exempt players. For any given tournament, the exempt players have first choice as to whether or not they want to play. If enough of them do, then no nonexempt players can participate, unless they qualify via a grueling process called the Monday qualifier. If a few spots open up in the field for conditional players, nonexempt players are then admitted into the field based on their ranking compared with all the other nonexempt players. For some conditionals with low rankings, they will be fortunate to make it into two or three events all year. Even highly ranked nonexempt players may not get into more than a dozen. If they want to avoid repeating as nonexempt players the next season, they either need to finish in the top 90 on the money list, competing against exempt players in the process who get to play in many more events, or else they have to go to Qualifying School, always a tough way to get membership on tour. Many simply decide to focus on the Futures Tour and avoid playing in LPGA events altogether.

In 2006, getting an exempt membership on tour was particularly tough. There were only 15 exempt cards available through Q-School; most years, players can count on more than 20 to be up for grabs. For players who missed the exempt cut line but finished in the top twenty at the tournament, it was particularly bittersweet. As it turned out, there were several Korean golfers who had just that experience: Jeanne Cho-Hunnicke missed an exempt card by a single stroke, while several more fell two shots short. Among the latter group were two very promising young rookies: Jane Park (pictured above) and Na On Min. Min had been a member of the Korean national team when, as an amateur, she participated in Q School and secured a nonexempt card. She decided to turn pro and join the tour. Park had been one of the top Korean American prospects coming into qualifying; just a few months earlier, she had finished tenth at the US Women's Open just before turning pro. She then played in the Honda tournament in Thailand on a sponsor's exemption and notched a top thirty finish. She also had a ream of great amateur achievements to her credit, including a win at the US Women's Amateur and another runner up finish, and participation in the winning squad at the Curtis Cup. But even though the two rookies were among the top nonexempt players on tour, they were not able to get into a field until several events into the season. Their first chance to play finally came when the LPGA held its second event of 2007 in Mexico, the Corona Championship. Many of the top players in the league decided to take a pass on this event, opening up a lot of spots for nonexempt players. Thus, everyone from Min and Park to Hana Kim and Su A Kim got a chance to play their first event of the year.

Jane Park did not take much advantage of this chance; in the first round, she shot a 4 over par 77 (the course was a par 73) and wound up tied for 88th. But she was not about to roll over, and in the second round shot a blistering 5 under par 68 to vault up the leaderboard to a tie for 30th, which allowed her to easily make the cut. Min got off to a far better start than Park. In her first ever LPGA round, she shot a 5 under par 68. Her round consisted of an amazing eight birdies, one bogey and one double bogey. She finished the day tied for second with Mexican superstar Lorena Ochoa, and one shot out of the lead held by Stacy Prammanasudh, the Thai American who had already won once on tour in 2007. It's not often that a rookie, let alone an 18 year old rookie, manages to finish tied for second in her first ever round on the LPGA tour. Could she continue that level of achievement? Well, in the second round, she cooled off somewhat, but still shot a one under par 72, adding five more birdies as compared to two more bogies and yet another double bogey. She fell to a tie for 8th, but was still well situated to challenge for the title on the weekend.

It was another Korean rookie, however, who held the lead after two rounds. Angela Park (pictured) has an exempt card, unlike Min (pictured below), and she has been the strongest and most consistent Korean rookie on tour all season. She even contended for a title at the Fields Open, falling just short and winding up third. She had a solid 72 on day one, but absolutely exploded into action on day two. She shot an 8 under par 65 on that day, producing nine birdies and only one bogey in the process. Starting on hole ten, she was three under on her first nine, but really caught fire on the back, producing five straight birdies to end her day. Her nine under total put her into a tie for the lead with Taiwanese golfer Yu Ping Lin, who also shot a 65 on day two, and Italian golfer Silvia Cavalleri. Another Korean, veteran Sarah Lee, was almost as brilliant, producing a 7 under par 66 to move to 8 under total, one shot out of the lead.

Other nonexempt players also had good results in the first two rounds. Su A Kim made her first ever LPGA cut when she shot a 3 over par 76 to finish the day at 4 over par. Hana Kim is also nonexempt this year, and was playing in her first event of the season. She was doing a good deal better than Su A, however. After two rounds she sat tied for 10th with a 5 under par total. To this point she was having the best start of her career. Could this finally be the week she notches her first ever top ten finish (her best previous finish has been a 17th place)?

Then there's Ji-Young Oh. Oh is another 18 year old Korean golfer in her first year on tour. She earned exempt status at Q-School, but did not have the start in her rookie year she had envisioned: in her first four events she had missed the cut badly. But things were starting to turn around for her: at the previous event, the Ginn Open, she had finished tied for 24th. At the Corona, she once again had a solid start, shooting a 72 and a 70 to move to 4 under par and a tie for 16th. She was poised to collect her first top 20, and perhaps even top ten, finish.

At this point in the tournament, it was looking good for a Korean golfer to get into contention for the title. But during the third round, things were shaken up again, and the number of golfers who had a realistic chance of collecting the title was considerably reduced. Sarah Lee and Angela Park followed their great second rounds with lackluster performances, one under par and even par respectively. This plopped them at 9 under par total, tied for 6th. They were now four shots out of the lead. By no means was this too far back to make a run, but considering the player who was in the lead, it made life very tough for them. That player? Local daughter Lorena Ochoa, who shot a blistering and borderline ridiculous nine under par 64 to blow past most of the rest of the field. Also tied for the lead was second year star Julieta Granada and veteran Silvia Cavalleri. There were two more players at 12 under. The chances that all five players would shoot poor rounds on Sunday were slight, meaning that, for Park and Lee, they would need a performance like Ochoa's on Saturday to have any chance to collect the win. Not a likely prospect.