2007 US Women's Open

The leaders occasionally looked like they would falter and let the Koreans back in. On the par five tenth hole, all three leaders hit bad drives. Ochoa ended up in the trees, while Pressel and Kerr put their drives into dicey lies. But none of them paid for these mistakes. Pressel even birdied by pitching her third shot straight into the hole. If a Korean wanted to win, she would have to make a run at the top it seemed.

Angela Park, meanwhile, kept fighting. If she were to win this title, she would become not only the youngest player to ever win the Open (beating Se Ri Pak's record), but would also become the youngest to ever win a Major, beating the record that Morgan Pressel had set earlier in the year at the Nabisco. She kept giving herself birdie chances, but for some reason she just could not get them to drop. She was gradually running out of holes, and it didn't look like the leaders were going to do her any favors. She simply had to make birdies if she wanted to win. Alas, the other Korean who was in position to win, Shin, was having the same dilemma.

Shin was never able to get her putter firing, but Park did manage to make a few nice putts and get herself back in the mix. On the 12th hole she dunked a fifteen foot birdie try to move to 3 under, just a shot back.

Meanwhile, Se Ri and In-Bee, playing together along with JJ, both had marvelous closing rounds. In-Bee had said earlier that Se Ri was her idol, and that she would be thrilled to play with her. She responded by producing the best golf of her professional career. Se Ri started her run on the 15th hole. After struggling a bit to make something happen all day, she reached the par 5 in two and narrowly missed an eagle try. She tapped in the birdie, while In-Bee also made birdie there. This moved In-Bee to 2 under par, Se Ri to even.

Meanwhile, the low amateur award was up for grabs. Only four amateurs had made the cut, but the two who came out tied for low amateur were both Koreans. Jennie Lee (pictured), a Korean American from Duke, and Jennifer Song, a Korean amateur, ended up at 10 over par and both won a medal from the USGA as a result.

As the tournament wound down, the par 5 15th hole became crucial. Shin hit her approach just past the flag, but it was going just fast enough to hit one of those infuriating hills on the green, and it rolled all the way off the back. Angela Park's approach was nicely placed, and she dunked that birdie to move to 4 under, a tie for the lead. But at the same time, Kerr made a birdie on the 14th hole to move to 5 under and retake the lead by herself. At this same point, Pressel began to self destruct and slide down the leaderboard, and Ochoa was hanging in at 4 under but could not move further. Barring a great run from Shin or In-Bee Park, it looked like the only people who could beat Kerr were Ochoa or Angela.

On 15, Ochoa put her drive into a fairway bunker, and hit a terrible shot from there right into the rough. Kerr was in an all right position, however. Up on 16, Angela put her tee shot into the bunker and short sided herself. She could not get it up and down and fell to 3 under. This was not what she needed at that point in the event.

Ahead on 17, In-Bee hit her third shot across the green to close to the hole and saved par, a very clutch scramble. Then Se Ri (pictured) dunked a magnificent 40 foot birdie on 17 to move to 1 under. Give the Golf Queen credit: she never gives up! Meanwhile, Kerr hit a terrible third shot on the par five that was not only too short, it hit one of those slopes and ran off the side of the green. Luckily for her she recovered and saved par from there. Ochoa also scrambled and saved par, so Kerr maintained her one shot lead over the Mexican and two shot lead over Angela.

On the final hole, In-Bee Park displayed some more creative shot making, hitting a neat shot from the rough that curved towards the flag. If she wanted to have any shot at winning, she probably needed to make birdie, but she missed and saved par instead, entering the house at 2 under. Se Ri made another birdie here as well, her third in the last four holes, to vault into a tie at 2 under. For the moment, she and In-Bee were the clubhouse leaders. It was a truly great comeback by Se Ri: she had shot 68-68 on the weekend, and would be one of only two golfers to shoot in the 60s her final two rounds. Her 68 was also the low round of the day. For In-Bee, win or lose, she would have her best finish yet at a Major or at an LPGA event. The paycheck from this week alone would probably be enough to insure her exempt status for 2008. And she got to play a round of golf with her idol. What more could a girl wish for?

Meanwhile, Angela made a crucial mistake on the 17th hole when she missed a ten foot par save. She dropped down to 2 under par, and it looked like she was finished in terms of winning. But she managed to make a birdie on the final hole to move back to 3 under and become the clubhouse leader. Now she just had to wait and see what happened with Ochoa and Kerr.

What happened was, Ochoa hit another bad tee shot on 17. It looped left into a fairway bunker. She decided that she needed to be aggressive, but her second shot with a large wood was not good; it fluffed through the rough and stayed there. She wound up with bogey on the hole, and Kerr now had a two shot lead with one hole to play. Kerr did not mess up from there, and the title, her first Major, was hers. Ochoa and Angela tied for second at 3 under, while Se Ri, who had started the weekend well back, finished tied for fourth with In-Bee Park. The Korean success continued, with a sixth place finish for Shin, a seventh place finish for Jee Young Lee, a tie for eighth between JJ and Kimmie, and Kyeong Bae notching a tie for tenth as well. Amazingly, 8 of the top 13, and 7 of the top nine, were women who were either from Korea or had Korean heritage. Add in Joo Mi Kim, who finished tied for 14th, Birdie Kim and Jimin Kang who tied for 16th, and you have 11 of the top 21 being Korean. Phenomenal.

So, in the end the Koreans women had a historic, fantastic performance, but the title was not theirs. But with veterans like Pak, Kimmie and JJ still showing their talents, and newcomers like Park, Shin, Lee and Bae continuing to improve, it seems likely that many Major wins are coming for the Sisters in the future.