2003 US Women's Open

Hole 11: (Par 5). She hit a three wood drive that was perfect, then followed it up with a great approach that was just twenty feet or so off the front of the green. Magnificent, considering she laid up off the tee. But she chose to putt it (why?). The line required her to putt it a ways through the fringe, and it practically died up there, leaving her thirty feet short for her birdie. Her second putt was also well short, and she was forced to make a five footer just to save par. I think this was a strategy mistake from Grace; she definitely should have chipped it from there, or hit a bump and run. So for the fourth hole in the last five, she had a testy par save, and considering how close she was in two, you had to be disappointed with that.

Hole 12: This short par 3 over water was another great birdie hole. But her tee shot went into the bunker, and her out, while seemingly solid, kept rolling and rolling until the ball stopped fifteen feet past the hole. So yet another tough par saver, and this time she just missed it and tapped in for bogey.

Hole 13: Her drive went into the right rough. From there, she had to be careful not to put her approach into the greenside bunker. She hit a nice shot, though, rolling it up onto the green, but it had so much momentum that it rolled all the way off the back. Her chip was not very good (perhaps she did not get clean contact?), and she left it well short, maybe fifteen feet. So once again, a tough par save, and once again, she did not make it. +4

Grace in action on Friday
Seoul Sisters Photo/Eric Fleming

More Grace driving!
Seoul Sisters Photo/Eric Fleming

Hole 14: Excellent drive. The flag was tucked right behind that wall past the water, a tricky tricky spot, but Grace nailed a sensational iron that cleared the water easily and stopped dead on landing. She had only a ten footer, but this time she misread it and had a tap in par. This was one that got away.

Hole 15: Par 3 uphill. A 20 minute wait, then Grace hit her tee shot but was not happy. When I got up there, I found out why. Her tee shot was way over the green, and had landed in some tall weeds. From there, it was tough to even get it to the green, and in fact she didn't, stopping on the fringe. Her third was a lofted pitch that stopped about two feet away for a routine bogey. But that moved her to +5, and for the first time, Grace had to start worrying about making the cut.

Hole 16: Great drive. Her iron was a bit short and was in the bunker. But things went from bad to worse for Grace. She hit a great out to maybe two feet, but for the second time this day, her par save lipped out. And to make things even more dire, the putt stopped three feet from the hole, which left her a bogey tester. She made that one, but now her score was +6.

Hole 17: Grace's drive was in the fairway, but about 60 yards behind her drive of Thursday. Her iron was again excellent, putting her maybe ten feet from the hole for another great birdie chance. She hit a fantastic putt, on line the whole way, and... it lipped out! You want to talk about annoying, I don't think anyone thought she was going to miss that one from the moment it left her putter, it was that good. Her third lip out of the day.

At this point, Mhairi McKay, who was at 9 under and was 8 shots in the lead, scored a triple bogey on her final hole of the day to come back to the field. This gave me brief hope that Se Ri might slip into the cut if she could finish within ten of McKay's score.

Hole 18: Bombed her drive; if she were 280 yesterday, she must have been 300 today. Her approach was good, but went up against the stands. She hit a pretty good pitch from there, to about 8 feet. But once again, she left the birdie putt a trifle short, and made par. So she finished at +6, not a sensational performance, but hopefully good enough to make the cut at least.

Summary:
Grace got off to a promising start, but quickly began to struggle. She missed a few makeable birdie putts, but when she hit the 7th hole, she had to work very hard to make her par saves. She also had three lipouts, which certainly did not help her cause. It was probably this round that cost her any chance of winning, but in some ways it was equal parts bad luck and less than average play.

'We're not worthy'!
Seoul Sisters Photo/Eric Fleming

Christina Kim dressed for the Fourth

I went and had lunch, then stopped by the practice green en route to watch Se Ri. I saw Christina Kim there. I went up to her and wished her good luck; she gave me a big smile and thanked me. Keep in mind that this was the fourth of July: she was wearing a patriotic and also very wild outfit to celebrate. Her top had a large American flag on it (covering the entire front). Her pants were red and blue stripes, furthering the Independence Day theme. I was very impressed with how genuine and nice her response was to me. She seems like a great person and I wish her all the luck in the world. She is also my wife's favorite among the ladies. And at +3 (at the time) she was still very much in the tournament.

Se Ri's round

Hole 10: Unfortunately, they would not let us through a crosswalk until after Se Ri teed off, so I walked around the 11th hole and got to the green in time to watch Se Ri finish up an easy par. She was wearing a red top and black pinstripe shorts today, and looked sharp. She had her work cut out for her to make the cut, but she got off to a good start.