Christina's World

Early on Sunday, two Korean rookies found themselves heading in opposite directions. In-Kyung Kim has been the second best rookie for much of the 2007 season, behind only Angela Park. She has been more inconsistent of late, however, and she only barely made the cut in Portland. On Sunday, she imploded, shooting an 80 and plummeting to 12 over par, the worst score among those who made the cut. At the same time, another top Korean rookie was having almost the exact opposite result. In-Bee Park (pictured at the US Women's Open) was one over par when she started her day, but after an early bogey, surprisingly on the relatively easy 12th hole (she started this day on the back nine), she would not make another mistake the rest of the day. She carded three birdies in her first nine holes, then went on a tear. Starting on the second hole, she made birdies on five straight holes, amazingly only parred the fairly easy par 5 7th, then made birdie on the treacherous par 3 8th when she hit her tee shot to tap in range. All in all, she scored a sizzling 8 under par 64 and leapt up the leaderboard to 7 under total. Although she was still too far behind the leaders to have any real chance of the trophy, she had secured herself a top ten at the least, and most likely a top five.

Although Ji Young Oh finished her second day tied for third, she did not play in the final group on Sunday, and so avoided a repeat match-up with Ochoa. Instead, she was in the penultimate group with Natalie Gulbis and Diana D'Alessio. Ochoa played in the final group with Gustafson and Mhairi McKay. For about half the day, it looked like Gustafson might be able to challenge Ochoa, but both she and McKay fell apart on the back nine. Ochoa had little trouble collecting her third straight win, notching a five shot victory and finishing at 12 under. As it turned out, In-Bee Park's rally had gotten her all the way to a tie for second place. Although none of the Koreans were able to challenge Ochoa for the win, both Ji Young Oh and Christina Kim were in the hunt for the second place. And for both of them, a finish that high could be very important for their seasons.

Ji Young (pictured) started her day well, with a birdie, but made two bogies after that. She parred the next few holes, and then collected a birdie on the par 5 7th to move back to even for the day. She remained at that level while her playing partners struggled, and as she reached the final hole, she was still at 7 under par. Had she been able to par the final hole, she would have finished the day tied for second place, but alas, she made a three putt on the final hole to fall to 6 under and a solo 6th. Although the runner up finish would have been sweet, the 6th place was still by far her best LPGA finish, and it earned her enough money to pretty much lock up her exempt status for 2008. She had played wonderfully on Friday to get into contention, but more importantly, she had played well in the spotlight on the weekend, first paired with Ochoa, than with fan favorite Natalie Gulbis. She still has to work on her short game, and her driving distance needs to be increased if she wants to be more competitive (she is actually above average in height at 5'7", but is one of the shortest hitters on tour). But her finish here showed she has the potential to be great if she keeps working hard. And knowing the Seoul Sister work ethic, that is probably a given. So watch out for Ji Young Oh on leaderboards in the future!

Meanwhile, Christina Kim also had a lot riding on the outcome of the tournament. She said later that she felt that, if she could put up a great finish at the Safeway, she would be a 'shoo in' to make the team. She played her round clad in red, white and blue, sending a signal to Betsy King what her intentions were. She got out to a great start with a birdie on the first, and added two more on 7 and 9 to move to 7 under total. She was still at that total when she reached the 15th hole. That's when the fun really started. Christina was wildly inconsistent at times over these last four holes, but she also showed the kind of heart and fighting spirit that made her such a valuable part of the 2005 Solheim team. She made a bogey on 15, but dunked a ten footer for birdie on 16, shouting out 'I did it!' when the ball went in. On the 17th, however, she knocked her drive into the trees on the left. She punched out to near the green, but overshot the green on her next shot, and left her par save well short. She still had a lot of work to make bogey, but drilled that one, provoking an ecstatic cheer from the gallery and a big fist pump from Christina. On the final hole, she reached the green in regulation and drained the birdie putt to once again thrill the fans. The holes were tough, but Christina raised her game when it counted, generating enormous excitement in the process. In the end, she finished at 7 under par, tied for second place. It was her best finish of the year, and it came at the absolute perfect time.

But the tension was just starting for Christina. There were still five players being considered for the two captain's picks. Laura Diaz had played well at Safeway, collecting a 12th place finish. Diaz is a well liked veteran who has played the Solheim Cup several times in the past. But Christina was actually ahead of Diaz in Solheim points. Nicole Castrale, who was 11th on the Solheim point list, was not only a player who had never been on the Solheim team, she was also coming off a nagging injury. To top that off, she only finished 45th at Safeway, and only made the cut after a big rally on Saturday. The other two players under serious consideration, Meghan Francella and Brittany Lang, were both ahead of Christina in Solheim points. But both were Solheim rookies, and both had not played nearly as well as Christina had recently. It looked good for Christina to get picked for the team. Besides those factors, Christina had several other plusses going for her. For one, she had been such an important part of the team spirit at the 2005 event, as was previously mentioned. She also is in the top ten in driving distance on tour; other than Brittany Lincicome, the American team was not strong in that category. And Kim makes a lot of birdies, another stat that generally favors you in match play events. Then there was the matter of her record the last time she played, which was very very good.

Amazingly, however, when the decision came down, Christina Kim was overlooked for the team. King chose Castrale and Diaz. It is rare indeed when a rookie gets picked for the Solheim team via a Captain's pick, especially when another proven winner is available to choose instead. The fact that Christina had also been peaking at the right time, while Castrale had not, made the choice even more puzzling. It's true that Castrale has had the better season than Kim, but it's also true that her injury was a big question mark that should have been factored in.

Understandably, Christina was devastated by this decision. She put a brave face on when interviewed, but admitted she thought she was a lock for the team, especially after her second place finish at Safeway (the only player she lost to was Ochoa, not even eligible for Solheim; so, in effect, she was the best Solheim Cup player in the field). She later admitted that the snub had left her in a "burning rage". Which left her with two choices: feel sorry for herself, or go all out to show the American squad just what they were missing. Christina decided to do the latter. (Christina wasn't the only one surprised by the choices. Several European Solheim Cuppers expressed surprise and relief that she was overlooked. They remarked that they were glad not to have to face the fiery Kim at the Cup. Which is about the nicest compliment one could give her, isn't it?).

The next event on the tour was the State Farm Classic. Ochoa did the other players on the tour a favor by taking the next few events off to rest and attend a wedding, meaning the event was wide open. Usually, this tournament is played at the Rail Golf Course in Springfield, Illinois. The players have a saying about that place: 'there's no jail at the Rail'. What that means is, it is the kind of place where you can go really really low, because it's tough to put your ball in a place where you cannot play from. This year, however, they moved the event to a new course, the Panther Creek Country Club. This course proved to be to the players' liking as well, and low scores once again predominated.

Christina had some painful memories about this event. In 2004, she played absolutely brilliantly, but still lost the event to Cristie Kerr on the final hole, despite shooting better than 20 under par total. It was a crushing defeat, especially since it would have been her first win. But just a few weeks later, Christina did collect her first win at the Longs Drugs Challenge, so it turned out all right in the end. Koreans had not won this event recently, although Seon Hwa Lee was in contention to win in 2006 before Annika Sorenstam shot a 62 to catapult over everyone and claim the trophy. Amazingly, this was still the most recent win Sorenstam had achieved; she had almost never in her career gone so long between wins. She was back to try to defend her title and get her first win of the 2007 season.

Christina played well in round one, but it was another American, this one on the Solheim team, who captured the lead that day. Sherri Steinhauer shot a 5 under par 67 to claim the lead. Christina did well with a 69. Steinhauer continued to hold the lead in the event through two rounds with an 11 under par total. But right on her heels was Christina, who shot a second round 66 for a 9 under par total. She was playing brilliantly, but Steinhauer was playing so well that it was hard to keep up. Another big mover on Friday was defending champ Sorenstam, who shot a 7 under par 65, one of her best rounds since returning from back surgery. This moved her into third place at 8 under total. Several Korean golfers were also right in the hunt after two, including 2007 winner and top Korean on the money list Mi Hyun Kim, who sat tied for fourth at 7 under total.