2007 Michelob Ultra Open: Lee For All

The next hole was the final par five of the course. Both ladies put their second shots near the green into trouble. Jee Young was in a particularly terrible situation: her ball was in a small bunker, leaving her a nearly impossible stance for her third shot. She responded with her best shot of the day, an amazing blast that left the ball just two feet from the hole for a routine birdie. Sarah's shot was not quite as hard, but still tricky: her ball was in some deep rough near another bunker. But her third was even closer than Jee Young's, to within tap-in range for her own birdie. And so, with a few holes left, Jee Young and Pettersen were once again tied, with Sarah a shot back at 9 under. Any one of those three could still win the event.

On the 16th hole, Pettersen hit a bad approach that should have caused her trouble, but she got one of those lucky breaks that sometimes happen: the ball wound up in deep rough, but perfectly teed up on top of that rough. This gave her a fairly simple up and down, which she completed successfully. On that same hole moments later, both Jee Young and Sarah had birdie chances. Jee Young left hers a bit short and tapped in the par. Sarah knew she pretty much had to make birdie soon to put the pressure on. But she left her birdie try short, then messed up the short putt for par. The bogey dropped her to 8 under and virtually eliminated her from competition.

Pettersen nearly made a birdie on the par 3 17th, but missed that, and wound up finishing her round at 10 under. Jee Young then played 17, giving herself a lengthy look at birdie. She hit a superlative putt, which was on line all the way until the very end, when it just tailed off, leaving her a tap in par. Sarah, meanwhile, put her tee shot within eight feet, and her caddie exhorted her to get that bogey from the previous hole back. But again she left the putt short, and tapped in for par. She would go on to bogey the final hole to finish at 7 under. It had been a great tournament for her, but quite a disappointing finish.

So it was up to Jee Young Lee. She hit a fantastic, super long drive on 18, but her approach was nothing special, and she wound up with par on the final hole. Thus, she and Pettersen would play a sudden death playoff, repeatedly playing the 18th hole until one player won. This hole had yielded very few birdies on this day, so it seemed more likely that the tournament would be won when one player made a mistake.

On the playoff hole, Jee Young got honors and annihilated her drive 290 yards. Pettersen hit a nice drive, too, albeit nowhere near as long. Jee Young did not hit a very good approach, leaving herself 30 feet short of the flag. Pettersen missed the green entirely, but hit a nice chip from there and easily saved par. Jee Young two putted, and it was on to the second playoff hole.

This time, Pettersen mishit her drive, but got lucky: it landed on the fairway and was very long. Unlike Jee Young moments earlier, she took advantage, hitting a great iron to within eight feet of the hole. She had a great chance for birdie. Jee Young left herself with pretty much the same kind of birdie try as she had had last time, and put her birdie try within two feet. So now Pettersen had the chance to win. But she barely missed the putt and tapped in for par. She looked shell shocked, realizing she had let a golden chance slip by. Jee Young then stepped up and hit a shaky par putt that did a 360 roll around the cup before falling in. Boy, was that a close one! She smiled broadly, realizing she had barely dodged a bullet.

All throughout the four days, Jee Young had been playing with an experienced caddie that had been helping her to keep focused: Sean Clewes. If Sean's name is familiar, that's because he is the longtime caddie for Seoul Sister Mom-to-be Hee-Won Han. But since Hee-Won is taking a lengthy break to have her first child, Sean is carrying the bag for other players in the interim. He made a good choice hooking up with Jee Young: like Hee-Won, she is very easy going and easy to work with. But it must be quite a change to pick clubs for a woman who hits it so much farther than Hee-Won does!

On the third playoff hole, both ladies hit their drives to roughly the same spot. This time, though, Jee Young finally hit a good iron into the green, leaving her with her own 8 foot birdie putt to win. Pettersen's approach was more than twice as far away, just off the green. Pettersen missed her birdie try, so now Jee Young had her own putt to win. She hit it with great pace, but just missed. Faced with a relatively easy par save, Jee Young rushed it a bit - and missed it. She could scarcely believe it. After making her bogey, she went over to the side of the green, covering her face in her hands. She tried valiantly to hold back the tears, but she knew she had just given the tournament away with a golden ribbon on it. And indeed, Pettersen tapped in her par and took the title.

Afterwards, the tears flowed for Jee Young Lee, whose friend and fellow Golf Maniac Sarah Lee had been waiting by the green to soak Jee Young should she take the trophy. She told the press that she was extremely disappointed, but that the next time she got into that situation, she was going to win, and that no matter what, she would never cry like that again. Becoming a champion at any sport is a learning process, and golf is no different. Jee Young had relatively little golf experience before she became a pro, and has only been a pro since 2005. So she still needs to learn some of the lessons that other players have already had. But she is only 21 and as naturally talented as anyone on tour. When she learns those lessons, there is every reason to believe she will become a major force in the world of women's golf.

As indeed, all the top four Lees will be and are. Meena and Seon Hwa have not had the greatest years so far in 2007, but they are gradually getting themselves onto more leaderboards as the weeks go on. And Sarah Lee showed she has the talent to win, she just needs to get past the demons that seem to rise up whenever she has a win in sight. If that happens, it shouldn't be too rare in the future to see a leaderboard of Lees on the LPGA tour.