2007 Longs Drugs Challenge

The Longs Drugs Challenge is contested every year in the bay area of California, but over the years, the exact location of the event (and time of year) has shifted around. These days, it is played in late Fall at Blackhawk Country Club in Danville, California. Koreans have twice won this event. The first victory came in 2001, when Se Ri Pak claimed the title in a rain shortened event. Her win was not only the second of the year for her, but it also stopped an Annika Sorenstam four tournament win streak. Pak got out to a lead right from the start and never looked back. The next year, Hee-Won Han suddenly found herself with a real shot to win the event with just one hole to play, but her drive landed in a golf cart (!), and the win ended up going to Cristie Kerr. In 2003, several Koreans had a chance to win the event, including Sarah (then known as Jung Yeon) Lee, Se Ri Pak and Grace Park, but in the end, they all came up a bit short. The second Korean to win the event was actually a Korean American, Christina Kim, and she pulled off her win here in 2004. It was not only her first win on the LPGA tour, it was also a win that occurred practically in her backyard, as she had grown up in nearby San Jose.

This year, the event was played from October 4 - 7. In the last few weeks, the Koreans had hit a bare patch when it came to wins, and there was some hope that they could right the ship at this event. Indeed, things got out to a great start. The week before, Angela Park had secured the Rookie of the Year award, and so she decided to take the event off. It was her first vacation since she had joined the tour; before this, she had played every single event she was able to get into. With Angela gone, another rookie took the chance to grab the spotlight. Inbee Park (she was now spelling her name that way instead of 'In-Bee') seized a share of the first round lead by shooting a 5 under par 67, five birdies and no bogies.

After Inbee (pictured), the next highest ranked Korean on the leaderboard was former champion Pak. Se Ri had been looking for another win since collecting her fifth Jamie Farr Classic title in July. She opened this tournament with two early bogies, but soon righted the ship, made five birdies, and finished the day with a 3 under par 69, which left her tied for third with, among others, Karrie Webb and Lorena Ochoa. Il Mi Chung shot a 70, and rookie Na On Min was the other Korean under par after a 71.

Se Ri Pak had another up and down round on Friday. She had five birdies, but also two bogies and a double bogey, winding up with a one under par 71. But that left her as the top Korean on the leaderboard, with a four under par total. Inbee Park was not able to match her round one performance; on day two, she struggled mightily, shooting a 3 over par 75 and plummeting down the leaderboard. The lead was nearly taken by none other than Lorena Ochoa, who seems to be near the lead in just about every tournament this year. Ochoa finished the day at 5 under, which left her one shot behind the leaders, Karrie Webb and Canadian star Lorie Kane. Se Ri's 4 under put her in a tie for fourth place. Unfortunately, she was the only Korean in the top ten at that moment, which meant that once again, the odds a Korean would walk off with the trophy were long.

However, though the Koreans were not all over the top of the leaderboard, there were quite a few just outside of the top ten. Inbee Park and fellow rookie In-Kyung Kim were both tied at 2 under par, while Jee Young Lee, Seon Hwa Lee and Ji-Young Oh were all tied in 16th place. Oh had started her rookie year with a lot of missed cuts, but ever since her top ten finish at the Safeway Classic in August, her record had improved. Once again, she looked good to possibly score a high finish. And with two rounds to go, these women were still within five shots of the leader, with ample time to make a run at the crown.

The luck of the Korean golfers has been such lately that, most of the time, some player or other runs away with the tournament before the weekend even starts. This week, things looked better going into Saturday, but it didn't take long before three players distanced themselves from the rest of the field. Those players were Ochoa and Suzann Pettersen, the top two players on the money list, and Lorie Kane. Pettersen shot a blistering 8 under par 64 to take the lead at 12 under; Ochoa and Kane each shot 67s and finished at 10 and 11 under respectively. The next nearest player was five shots behind that at 5 under. The top Korean was still Se Ri Pak (pictured), who alas continued to have an up and down week. She made two bogies early to fall to 2 under, then ran off four birdies in seven holes to move up to 6 under. But just when it looked like she could get back into the fray, she made a bogey and a double bogey and fell back to a 73 for the day and a 3 under total. That was still, as previously mentioned, the top score for any Korean on the leaderboard, but was nine shots behind the leader. Pak was still the only Korean in the top ten, but JJ made a move on Saturday, carding a 67, and she sat now at one under par, tied for 11th. Seon Hwa Lee and In-Kyung Kim were also tied at that score.

So, obviously, the Koreans were not in the hunt for the title, which eventually went to Pettersen in a playoff win over Ochoa. But there was a real possibility that, not only would the Koreans not win, they would not even be able to get a single player in the top ten. This became a more real possibility when Se Ri Pak struggled on the final day, shooting a second straight 73 to fall to 2 under par and into a tie for 11th, just out of the top ten. Seon Hwa could only manage a 71, and wound up tied with Se Ri, while JJ shot a 73 and fell to a tie for 17th. Rookie Ji-Young Oh shot a 77 and plunged down the leaderboard. The savior for the Koreans on this day was fellow rookie In-Kyung Kim. Kim shot a 70, not exactly a great score, but a good enough score to move her into a tie for 8th, the best finish for a Korean at the event.

The Longs Drugs Challenge has been generally good to the Korean contingent, but this year, it turned out to be one of the weakest events on tour for them.