2003 BMO Canadian Women's Open

The BMO Canadian Open is a national women's golf championship with an interesting history.

Up until a few years ago, the sole Canadian tournament on the LPGA schedule was the Du Maurier Classic. It was also the season's fourth Major. However, the Canadian government passed a law banning cigarette companies from sponsoring athletic events, meaning the event, while very successful, suddenly was without a sponsor. The LPGA and the people who ran the tournament worked furiously to find another sponsor before an LPGA imposed deadline, but to no avail, and the event died, replaced as the fourth Major by the Weetabix Women's British Open in 2001.

Se Ri plays the Du Maurier Classic, 2000

However, women's golf in Canada was not dead, for the Bank of Montreal stepped in to not only support a new event, the logical heir to the Du Maurier, but also a developmental golf tour as well. And even though it was no longer a Major in the strictest sense, by virtue of the fact that it was a national championship, it still had a lot of cachet. In other words, it was a title that would look really good on anyone's resume.

Like the US Women's Open, the Canadian version shifts around to a different Canadian golf course every year. This year, it was to take place at Point Grey Country Club in Vancouver. A real break for me, since I live but two hours south of that beautiful city. But work (you know, real work) imposed a limit to the amount of time I would be able to take off to go to the event. So I focused on the Women's Open in Portland, going all four days and the practice day. The results of my efforts were published in the previous issue of Seoul Sisters Magazine. This week, I present the sort-of sequel, my exclusive coverage of the Canadian Open. As at the US Open, I had a press pass and was able to get exclusive photos of the event, which you will be able to view here. Enjoy!

Grace played well in round one,
but struggled in round 2
AP Photo/ Richard Lam

Point Grey Country Club is conveniently located only a few miles outside of downtown Vancouver. I stayed in a hotel right downtown, near the heart of the shopping and nightlife area of town. Janice Moodie, the LPGA golfer from Scotland, and a good friend of Se Ri Pak's, was also staying in my hotel; I saw her once in the elevator, and my wife spotted her working out on the hotel's exercise bike as well!

On Saturday morning, my wife dropped me off at the gate, and I quickly made my way to the media center, which was right next to the front entrance, much more convenient than the one at Pumpkin Ridge had been. The people running the show couldn't have been nicer, providing me quickly with my badge and, this time, an armband for taking photos inside the ropes. It would prove to come quite in handy as it turned out. In fact, the lady handing out badges was the director of media relations for the event, and recognized me thanks to my omnipresent Seoul Sisters T-shirt. All in all, it took next to no time, and I was out on the course ready to cover the day's action.

By this point in the tournament, several Korean players had distinguished themselves in the standings. Se Ri Pak and Grace Park had great starts to the event, but on Friday both had shot weak second rounds to fall five shots off the pace. Still, they were in good position to do some damage come the weekend, and had reasonably late tee times. Playing with Grace this day would be Soo Yun Kang, who was also having a good event, while Jeong Jang was positioned for a possible run at the title herself.

Right after the parking lot near the entrance is the clubhouse, then immediately after that is the practice green. I walked down to the green and spotted Soo Yun Kang. I sat down to put together my camera, when I heard someone say, 'Look! It's Eric!' Looking up, who should be right in front of me but Grace Park, who still recognized me from the previous week. How on Earth I missed Grace standing there I don't know. I teasingly asked her about her Friday round (actually, I was seriously interested in why it had not been so good, as I had not been able to see any of it on the web because I was driving up to the tournament. But she thought I was teasing her, so I went with it). She replied that Dave had consistently given her the wrong clubs. I asked her if it had been windy or something; I was trying to mention that a lot of players had had trouble that day, but Dave replied, 'That's golf, Eric. That's the way it is'. That's cool! I can dig it that sometimes your game just isn't responding. I replied that I would have shot +50 on that course. It was a cool conversation, and they proved once again what nice people they are.

Meanwhile, the sun had come out with a vengeance, and it was then I realized that I had not brought my suntan lotion with me. I mentioned this in passing to Dave, and he actually gave me some of his to use! See what I mean? Nice. Grace then said that I owed her one now. So I repaid her by following Se Ri all day, and only catching up with Grace towards the end of her round. Oops! Not to worry, though, for there will be plenty of Grace coverage in this article and in the months to come!

Grace was practicing on the putting green
with this device when I met her
Seoul Sisters Photo/Eric Fleming

Fortunately, I was able to follow her for all 18 holes of her round, and here is how things went for her. On Saturday, she played with Leta Lindley, and started the day at even par. My comments on how each hole looked can be found below, but in general the course had pretty tight driving, not terribly penal rough, and a lot of trees. Many of the holes were doglegs. I didn't think the course to be nearly as challenging as the one they had just played at Pumpkin Ridge, but it still had the ability to bite you, particularly if you couldn't keep your drives on line. Since this has been a problem for both Grace and Se Ri all year, it was a cause for some concern as Saturday started.