2007 Sybase Classic

There are certain tournaments on the LPGA tour that the Korean golfers seem to really love. The reasons are varied: sometimes the courses are similar to the ones they grew up playing, or perhaps the venues have a large Korean fanbase nearby that comes out to cheer the ladies. One of these events is the Sybase Classic, which for years (under various sponsors) has been contested at Wykagyl Golf course in New Rochelle, New York. This course is a demanding test of golf, but at the same time, if a player is hitting her shots well, she can make umpteen birdies on it. Since 2002, Koreans have been a factor in the outcome at this tournament most years. In 2002, the tournament came down to a battle between Gloria Park, who had one career win to her credit, Hee-Won Han, who had won the previous year's Rookie of the Year award but who had never won on the LPGA before, and Annika Sorenstam, the best female golfer on the planet. The expected outcome would be that Sorenstam would take the trophy, but in fact the event ended up in a playoff between the two Koreans, with Park eventually coming out on top. But Han would have her revenge, and the next year, it was she who won the trophy, her first on the LPGA tour. In 2005, the Koreans had gotten out to a very slow start, not winning any of the previous events that had been contested that year. But it sure looked like that was about to change, as four of them, including Korean American Christina Kim, were in contention going into the final day. But in the end it was American Paula Creamer who took the prize, with the four Koreans filling out most of the rest of the top six. Again in 2006, Korean golfers were in good position to win, but Han and Kyeong Bae (pictured) had to settle for a tie for second while Mexican star Lorena Ochoa took the trophy.

In 2007, the sponsors ended their relationship with the Wykagyl course and relocated the tournament to the Upper Montclair Country Club in New Jersey. The first question, of course, was this: would this new course be as conducive to Korean success as Wykagyl had been? Or would the Seoul Sisters lose one of their favorite venues on tour?

As it turned out, the event proved to be a pretty good one for the Koreans, with several of them making noise throughout the week. Several of the golfers had been playing well in recent weeks, and most of them continued their success at Montclair. Jee Young Lee was coming off of her heartbreaking loss (in a playoff) at the Michelob Ultra Open. She bounced back and was determined to compete again at Sybase, but an injury forced her to drop out before the event even began. Sarah Lee, who had also played well at Michelob, was also at Sybase, hoping to improve on her third place finish in Virginia with her long awaited first win on tour. Several other stars, including Mi Hyun Kim and Se Ri Pak, were also on hand to give it a go.

As it turned out, Sarah Lee quickly established that she was not going to let the bad ending to her week at Michelob affect her in the least. She came out on fire, shooting a 6 under par 66 and setting the brand new course record for the event. By the end of the day, thanks to her six birdie, no mistake effort, she was all by herself in first place. Lee did something that was even more difficult when she followed up her great first round with a very solid second, a 3 under par 69 that put her at 9 under total and, at the time she finished, a four shot lead. That second round was a bit more inconsistent, as she made two bogies but also an eagle on one hole. What makes her achievement even more impressive is that, not only had she never played the course before this week, she had not even gotten much of a chance to play it during practice. She was suffering from an allergic reaction and was only able to play nine holes during her practice round, and had to skip her pro am. She was feeling much better by the time the tournament itself started, however, and she was ready to make another run at her first win.

The cold weather did take a toll on some other top players in the field, however. Mi Hyun Kim (pictured above) has a recurring injury in her leg that flares up in bad weather. She hung in there through most of three rounds before she was forced to drop out to preserve her health. She was not in contention, anyway, starting off with a 2 over par 74, but she was certainly in line for a decent paycheck had she been able to persevere.

After round one, several other notable names were tied for second behind Lee. One of these was the defending champion, Lorena Ochoa. But the other three tied at that spot were Koreans: Se Ri Pak (pictured), Hye Jung Choi and Brazilian Korean Angela Park. Se Ri has been playing decently for most of the season, but despite that, she had yet to snag a top five finish in 2007. On this first day, however, she got off to a very wild start on the back nine: a bogey, an eagle and a double bogey in her first three holes. She made another birdie on the 18th hole, so in the end her first nine holes was even par. But just as her round was winding down she caught fire, making four birdies in her final five holes to finish at 4 under 68. Hye Jung Choi is in her first year as an exempt player, and has had a pretty decent season so far. Her first round consisted of six birdies and two bogies. And Angela Park, one of the youngest golfers on tour at just 18 years old (she turns 19 in August), has been by far the strongest rookie of the year so far. On day one she put together a flawless four birdie, no mistake round.

Other Koreans beyond those four also started the week well. Jane Park is another nonexempt rookie who has not been able to get into a lot of fields. She started her week with a 69. A gaggle of Koreans were tied for 10th at 2 under, including rookies In-Kyung Kim and In-Bee Park as well as Meena Lee, Il Mi Chung, Won (formerly Ji Yeon) Lee, and Young-A Yang. Several more Koreans finished the day at 71.

As mentioned previously, Sarah Lee (pictured) continued her brilliance with a 69 on day two to move to 9 under total; in fact, she was in line for a ten under before a bogey on the final hole. Se Ri played decently but could not sink a birdie putt to save her life; she wound up with a single birdie and a single bogey and a 4 under total, still in the top ten but now five shots back. Both Hye Jung Choi and Angela Park shot one over par scores to fall backwards. But there were several Koreans who had good days. Rookie Jane Park seized her opportunity, shooting a 4 under par 68 to move to 7 under par total, good for solo third and a spot in the final group with Sarah Lee. The third member of that group, by the way, was Ochoa, who spent much of the day several shots behind Lee, but rallied at the end and wound up tied for the lead with her at 9 under. The battle for supremacy between these two was only beginning, and it would turn into one of the epic clashes of the young season. Young Jo shot a 5 under par 67 to move to 5 under total and a tie for 4th, meaning that three of the top seven on the leaderboard were Koreans.

On the downside, a number of Koreans missed the cut, notably Soo-Yun Kang, who had opened with a solid 71 but followed that with a 78 to miss the cut by a stroke. Rookies Irene Cho and Ji-Young Oh and Major winner Jeong Jang also went home without a paycheck (soon after this, JJ had to participate in her first ever media day as a defending champion of a US based LPGA event (in Rochester, NY). She admitted she was extremely nervous, particularly because she had struggled with her game in recent weeks, and so she prepared a seven page speech to give to the press. Fortunately she shortened it a bit before she appeared at the press conference!).