2007 Samsung World Championship

Every year, the LPGA has a number of limited field events where only a few of the top golfers are invited to participate. The event with the most elite field on tour is the Samsung World Championship of Women's Golf. Players qualify for this event in several ways; the winners of the four Majors get in, as do the top players on the money list. In addition, the sponsors are allowed to invite one player who does not otherwise qualify to participate.

This year, the sponsor's invitation provoked quite a bit of controversy. Michelle Wie, the Korean American star who has made a huge splash since she started playing LPGA events at the age of 12, was offered the sponsor's exemption into the field at the beginning of the year. It seemed like a safe bet; Wie had already played the event on an exemption in 2006 and 2005, the latter right after she turned pro. Since that day, she had had a ton of success in the professional events she had played, including top fives in several Majors. But there was a problem: after the sponsor's exemption was given this Spring, Wie started to struggle, and instead of contending for titles, suddenly she was having trouble even making the cut in most events. By the time the summer arrived, her game was so out of whack that she was working hard to avoid finishing in last place in the tournaments she was playing. But she still had the exemption, and would still be playing in mid-October with the top players in the world, unless she decided to drop out. Many felt that Wie's play did not merit inclusion in this elite field this year. The controversy worsened when it became clear that Annika Sorenstam, who was not so long ago the number one player in the world, and who had won the Samsung several times, would not qualify for the event. Sorenstam had been in somewhat of a mild slump when a neck problem forced her out of action for several months. She had not won an event in 2007 coming into the Samsung. Still, she was a player who had won the event several times, and certainly seemed at the moment more suitable for the sponsor's exemption than Wie. At this point, things really got bizarre. The sponsors decided to create a second sponsor's exemption, to be given to "a Hall of Famer not otherwise qualified". Even this generated controversy: for Juli Inkster and Karrie Webb were not in the field, either, and both were Hall of Famers having better years than Sorenstam. Pity poor Sarah Lee (pictured above): she was the player who was the last to qualify for the Samsung, then she was out, thanks to the Sorenstam invite. But when Sorenstam turned down the offer, Lee was back in. The whole affair quite frankly cheapened the tournament, and the sponsors would do well to get their field criteria in order well in advance of the 2008 tournament. It simply won't do to create a 'World Championship' when what you really want is a field of hand picked players. A tournament needs to set its criteria and live with the consequences, even if that means the players you really want in the field don't make it.

As an aside, another problem I personally have with the designation 'World Championship' is that it really is a championship involving the top players on the LPGA tour. The only outsider invited to the show, besides the sponsor's invite, is the top European player. This year, that policy seemed particularly unwise, as that player was not even in the top fifty in world rankings. Meanwhile, the top player on the JLPGA, Momoko Ueda, and the top player from the KLPGA, Ji Yai Shin (pictured), were both not only higher ranked, they had inarguably had far stronger years in 2007 than top Euro Bettina Hauert. If you want to invite just one top player from a foreign tour, why not invite the top player in world rankings from any other tour, not just a specific one? In that case, Shin, ranked ninth at the time, would have been in. In fact, a few years ago, they used to invite the top JLPGA, top KLPGA AND top European player to participate, but stopped doing that a few years ago, probably to get more LPGA players into the field. Hauert would end up finishing in last place in this year's Samsung, whereas Shin or Ueda, based on their other results playing on the LPGA this year, would probably have done much better.

Even with the yoyo status of Sarah Lee, the Koreans were well represented in the field of this tournament. Lee eventually did make it into the field, joining Se Ri Pak, Mi Hyun Kim, Seon Hwa Lee, Jee Young Lee, Jeong Jang and Rookie of the Year Angela Park in the mix. Including Michelle Wie, that meant that eight of the twenty players in the field had Korean blood. Interestingly, this event, long sponsored by Korean company Samsung, and once upon a time played in Korea, has only once been won by a Korean golfer. Se Ri Pak took the title in 1999, when the event was contested in Minnesota (!). Karrie Webb seemingly had the tournament wrapped up, but made several mistakes on the last hole to give the gift win to Se Ri. Se Ri also saw arguably the worst performance of her career happen at this event just a few years later. In 2004, mired in a deep slump, Pak could not keep her drives out of the desert (by then, the event was played at its current home, the Big Horn golf course in southern California). She wound up finishing 15 shots behind the second to last player in the field. She did not even qualify for the field in 2005.

The event started well for the Korean golfers this year. Rookie star Angela Park (pictured) produced seven birdies and two bogies in her opening round to move to 5 under par, which tied her for the lead with Paula Creamer. But Mexican star Lorena Ochoa looked like she was going to have another one of those tournaments where everything went right for her. She was 6 under par with one hole to play when her approach ended up in the bleachers and she made a double bogey to fall to 4 under. For the moment, the Brazilian-Korean Park had the advantage, but Ochoa had plenty of time to recover from that gaffe, and being that she was already the defending champion, everyone in the field knew she liked this course and could play it well.

Joining Ochoa at 4 under was Mi Hyun Kim. Kim had been battling with Creamer to be the third ranked player on tour for some time. It has been a good year for Kimmie, with the impressive win at the SemGroup Championship earlier in the year (beating Juli Inkster in a playoff, no less), and the third place finish at the Match Play Championship among the highlights. Still, she was hungry for another win. On this day, she produced an impressive round, especially on the back nine, where she shot a scorching 6 under par 30. If she could keep up that level of play, she would definitely be a factor come Sunday.

Tied another shot back at three under were two more Koreans, Se Ri Pak and Jeong Jang. JJ had yet to win in 2007, but still had made close to a million dollars by this point, while Pak had one win and several impressive finishes in Majors to her credit (the only Major she finished outside of the top ten at this year was the LPGA Championship). Pak actually owns a house at the Big Horn Club, so she must feel somewhat comfortable playing this course. Jee Young Lee shot a 2 under, Sarah Lee shot a 72, and even Seon Hwa Lee, the worst of the seven Korean tour members on this day, produced a 73. For the moment, all of them still had a shot at the title.