2003 Safeway Classic: Sunday

Grace on the range before her final round
SeoulSisters.com photo

On the final day, for the first time, I assigned a reporter to cover one group while I watched another. I followed Se Ri all day, while my wife followed Grace Park and Hee-Won Han, who were paired together.

First, the report about Grace and Hee-Won:

Hole 1: Grace and Hee-Won were talking on the tee. They did a lot of that sort of thing all through the round. Hee-Won hit her drive to the left side of the fairway, while Grace, 20 yards shorter (but not using a driver), was straight. Grace hit her approach to 10 feet, then canned the birdie! Hee-Won two putted for par.

Hole 2: Par 3. Grace was 10 feet right of the hole, Han missed the green way to the left. She had to hit her second up a steep slope. Got on, but two putted for bogey. Grace missed her birdie, got par.

Candid shot of Grace from Wednesday
SeoulSisters.com photo

Hole 3: Grace, left of the fairway by a tree, had to get a ruling. Han hit her drive to the right side of the fairway, then hit her approach to 7 feet, eventually making par. Grace hit an amazing shot from the trees to pretty close to the hole, then made birdie. A truly spectacular effort by Grace.

Hole 4: Han's tee shot was on left side of fairway. Grace hit hers to the right next to the fairway bunker. Dave kept asking the marshall there, 'Did it bounce? Did it bounce in the sand?' over and over; the marshall did not seem to understand what he was saying. I'm not sure why Dave wanted to know this; perhaps he was afraid the ball had sand on it that would affect its flight. She hit from there to the edge of the green, then her third stopped on the edge of the hole. Par. Han's shot went over the green, third shot to ten feet, then saved par.

Hole 5: Both hit the fairway. Grace got her second shot to 30 yards short of green. But Han hit her second shot way to the right from there, where it rolled down a hill into the jungle. Her third she pitched up, but it was not a very good shot, though it did reach the green. She got par. Grace had an 8 footer for birdie, but just missed it.

At that point my wife rejoined me, and we watched Se Ri for the rest of the round (except for one brief patch):

Hole 1: I wished Se Ri a Happy Birthday, and she gave me one of her medium wattage smiles and said 'thank you'. I think I may be the only person who did that all day, although I wasn't following Se Ri the whole time. Anyway, she hit a fairway wood of some kind off the tee, then followed that up with an iron to 5 feet and nailed an easy birdie. Tammie Green, her playing partner, also made a birdie by hitting one to 6 feet. A really quick hole, and Se Ri moved to 6 under!

Hole 2: Par 3. The flag was a bit towards the back today. Se Ri left her tee shot about 25 feet short, and two putted for par.

Hole 3: Another great drive, dead straight. I'm guessing 265 yards. Her iron, about 130 to the flag, bounced a bit when it landed. It looked like it hit near the flag, but ended up about 20 - 25 feet away again for another two putt par (though this one came close to going in). Green really screwed this hole up, hitting a terrible iron well short of the green, chipping well past the hole, then three putting for a double bogey. Se Ri did a lot of waiting here.

Hole 4: I'm hearing a lot of cheers, leading me to believe that Annika, who is the only player out here with a huge gallery, is probably making a charge. There are only about 20 people following Se Ri. Grace and Hee-Won have a much larger gallery, more like 150. Se Ri hit another booming drive, middle of the fairway, then landed her iron about 12 feet short, which then hopped a couple more feet forward, then stopped on a dime. It was a relatively easy, straightforward putt, and I remember thinking that this was the kind of putt Se Ri needed to make for the most part if she wanted to have any chance to make a move. But stopped the ball right next to the hole, for another par.

Se Ri relaxes on the range before her final round
SeoulSisters.com photo

Turns out, this was exactly the kind of chip she missed several times at the Open. Just in the rough, about 20 yards from the front of the green, 25 yards from the hole. She hit a half pitch that rolled a ways, stopping about two feet from the hole. It was a downhill putt, but virtually a gimme. And she missed it. Another missed gimme putt, something like the fourth this week. Par.

Hole 6: We ran ahead to catch up with Se Ri, who was on the 6th green when I got there. The lead at this point was 10 under, but Se Ri had a three footer for birdie (presumably after a great iron). This time she didn't miss it, and moved to 7 under. Han and Kang had by now stumbled, leaving just Grace and Se Ri still in it.

Hole 7: Her drive today was even longer than the one she hit here yesterday. Unfortunately. She hit it towards the right, in the same place she had gone yesterday, but the fairway narrows at that point, so today she was in the rough, maybe 280 yards from the tee. She hit an iron out, but it came out low. Still, it rolled to the fringe, maybe a foot in front of the green and 25 feet short of the flag. Very makeable eagle. But her read and pace were lousy on this putt. She only made it 3/4 of the way up the hill and left herself 4 feet for birdie. But she made that, thank goodness, to move to 8 under.