Mark this down in your calendars, because I literally cannot remember the last time this happened. An Annika Sorenstam/Se Ri Pak final round pairing, where both were so far behind that they finished before the TV coverage even begun. Well, that's what happened here, but to Se Ri's credit, she managed her usual third round improvement. It's funny how she always seems to step it up on the weekend. I heard a theory recently that perhaps she focuses better once the cut is made; that when she has to deal with the far larger number of players playing pre-cut, and the resulting slower play, it causes her to lose focus more easily, and hence she does not play as well. That's a theory well worth examining in the remaining tournaments this year. But whatever the cause, usually when the weekend comes, Se Ri steps it up. And she certainly did that here. Indeed, she got off to a very strong start, moving to +1 before too long. Eventually she even made it to 1 under par for the tournament, but was not able to hang on to that and finished with a still impressive 3 under par 67. Annika had another so so round, but finished it with a great approach to about a foot for a final hole birdie and a 68. As they finished, Se Ri was around 14th place, Annika 18th. Not an epic finale for either superstar.

A bunker shot by Se Ri, Round 3, Hole 3
Reuters/Jeff Mitchell

Se Ri had a more Pak-like round on Sunday,
shooting a 3 under par 67
Reuters/Jeff Mitchell

But then a funny thing happened. As the day went on, all the players who had been ahead of Se Ri began to struggle big time. Slowly, inexorably, Se Ri began to work her way up the leaderboard. With both Yang and Young Kim having bad rounds, Se Ri was the top ranked Korean, but she sat only in 12th or so. Could enough players fall back that Se Ri could notch her 14th top ten of the season? The answer, surprisingly, was yes, and after another hour or so, she moved into the top ten for the first time all week. By the time the carnage was done, Se Ri had moved all the way to 6th place, and even Annika, who was a shot behind Se Ri, snuck into the top ten with a 10th place finish. Candie Kung, who had finished at 1 under, also long before the end of the event, amazingly ended up tied for 2nd, meaning she now had top two finishes in her last three starts.

But the clear winner of the event was Karrie Webb, who had a round much like Se Ri did on Sunday, and with the lead she already had, that enabled her to cruise to a staggering nine shot win. One thing you can say about Webb, even though she has struggled all year: if you spot her a lead and don't put any pressure on her, that allows her to get into her comfort zone. And if that happens, you may as well give her the trophy. The way you beat Webb is make her work for it; she has proved all year that, when she is in tight contention for a win, it is much harder for her to rise to the occasion.

Still, Se Ri has nothing to feel bad about. Keep in mind that last year, also coming off a long stretch of tournaments played and playing on this same course, she had stumbled to a finish somewhere in the mid-forties. This year, despite being tired and not as focused as usual, and playing on a challenging course, she still put together a 6th place finish, and managed to bring her scoring average down by averaging 70 for the week.

So now she gets a few weeks off while the Solheim Cup goes on, then can return to action at the Safeway Classic (which will be covered by this here Magazine). And that's another course she has done well on in the past, so hopefully we will see her return to form with a much desired 4th victory of 2003.