2007 Kolon-Hana Bank Championship

Meena Lee started the day tied for the lead with Pettersen, but had a terrible day, shooting a 5 over par 77 to drop all the way to 2 over total. Remarkably, that still was good enough for a tie for 8th. She probably was not going to win, but had a top ten in her reach. Several other Koreans, meanwhile, had moved close to Pettersen themselves. JJ followed her strong 71 of day one with an even par 72 to remain at 1 under par, tied for third. Jang was another player well known for performing well in windy and cold conditions, and she now was well positioned for a final round charge. Seon Hwa Lee shot a fantastic 71 to move to 1 under and a tie for third. And Hyun Hee Moon (pictured) hung onto her top position on the leaderboard, shooting a respectable 73 to end the day at even par total and solo fifth.

Among the KLPGA stars, Ji was obviously doing the best, and Shin (pictured below with Ji Young Oh and Hye Jung Choi) was struggling, but all the other big names positioned themselves well on the leaderboard. Sun Ju Ahn shot a 73 on day two to sit at one over total, still very much in the tournament. She played on this day with Ochoa and Pak, quite an intimidating pairing for the young star, but ended up beating both of them. She ended her day in style with three straight birdies. Hee Young Park had an even par round on day two and moved into a tie for 12th. And Na Yeon Choi also shot an even par round to finish at 2 over par total and a tie for 8th. She was tied at that level with Cristie Kerr, Meena Lee and Shi Hyun Ahn.

Joo Mi Kim, meanwhile, had a pretty tough day. Starting it as one of the few players under par, she made a ton of bogies and plunged down the leaderboard. It would have been worse but for a fantastic hole in one on the par 3 11th. As you can imagine, the bubbly player was ecstatic that she had made that wonderful shot; her reaction was one of the highlights of the round. It was her only under par hole of the day, though, and she wound up shooting a 77.

Down near the bottom of the field, Angela Park continued her mysterious struggles. She had started the day already at 6 over par and near the bottom of the standings, but ended up shooting one of the worst rounds of her life on this day, a 10 over par 82, to plummet to 16 over and dead last place. Christina Kim shot a 74, but still managed to move up the standings a bit. Even Jin Joo Hong, who had been nearly in last place after round one, and who shot a fairly weak 76 on day two, moved up the standings, thanks to the surfeit of really high scores players were shooting on this day.

On day three, the weather got even tougher than it had been the first two days. They started play as normal; Ji Yai Shin in particular was making a nice run up the leaderboard. But after a couple of hours, the LPGA suspended play, deeming the wind so tough as to make conditions "unplayable". As it turned out, they would never resume play that day, and decided not to extend the tournament until Monday. Thus, for the first time, the event was shortened to two rounds, and Suzann Pettersen became the first non-Korean to ever claim the trophy.

To put it mildly, this turn of events caused an uproar. For one thing, there were thousands of fans who had turned out to watch the action, and after waiting several hours, they were suddenly told that the event would be canceled and a non-Korean would be handed the trophy. This decision was also frustrating for fans of the Korean golfers whereever they might be, as they have waited many weeks for a tournament where this many quality Korean golfers would be in range of a victory with a round to go. The media representatives on hand also got quite upset, and for a while, there was a bit of hubbub as security was called in to maintain order. Eventually, Mi Hyun Kim, Se Ri Pak and an LPGA official gave a press conference to explain what had happened to the miffed media.

For the Korean golfers, there were still happy stories, highlighted by Eun-Hee Ji's best ever second place finish. If she plays on the LPGA tour full time next year (and she ought to, now that she has earned exempt status), it will be interesting to see how she fares. Hyun Hee Moon also achieved her first LPGA top five, and all the top KLPGAers except Shin did pretty well. And Seon Hwa Lee officially broke a million dollars in a season for the first time in her career, with JJ nearly doing it herself for the third straight year. So even though this one will always be remembered as the one that got away, the Korean players still did quite well overall, and gave their fans a lot to remember.

Meanwhile, Se Ri rode off into the sunset on a motorcycle, no doubt heading for more successes down the road.