2003 Safeway Classic: Friday (cont.)

It started with hole 8. The par three over water caused Se Ri little trauma, and she put her tee shot three feet away from the hole. Birdie. Very sweet birdie.

Hole 9: This hole is a pretty straightforward par 4. Se Ri murdered her drive here, at least 30 yards past her playing partners, Natalie Gulbis and Heather Bowie. At this point, I suddenly knew she was going to make four straight birdies. I don't know how, I just knew! Weird, huh? Anyway, she was on a roll, putting her iron to about 7 feet, then dropping that birdie, no sweat, to move to 3 under. Se Ri was probably the only person who looked cool out here, because the temperature was pushing 85 by this time.

Hole 10: Another par 5, this one has water lingering on the right near the green, and is somewhat narrow. The green is uphill, and a nasty bunker fronts it on the left. Getting on in two is tricky because there is not much space to roll a shot up. Se Ri blistered her tee shot well past her partners. Gulbis decided to lay up, but hit a terrible iron that rolled into the water to the right of the fairway. Se Ri had maybe 220 yards to the green, so she was going to go for it. What I didn't know until later was that up on the green at that moment, Grace, who had reached the green in two, proceeded to three putt, and was not happy about it. In fact, these guys who followed her told me her entire back nine was full of bad drives and miraculous rescues, including one shot she hit from the grass while standing in a bunker. She managed not to drop a shot, despite the fact she suddenly couldn't do much right. Apparently she was suitably steamed on 18, for the guy I spoke to guessed it was a 290 yard drive she hit there (maybe 100 yard approach at most, he said). I would later watch Grace hitting drive after drive on the range, trying to get the balls to go straight (and mostly they did).

Se Ri relaxes by the 8th green
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Grace and Dave
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Se Ri putts on the 9th hole
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Anyway, Se Ri waited for the green to clear, then gunned her second to the front of the green. This left her some 60 feet from the cup. She putted up to four feet, then did just what I predicted: dropped her fourth straight birdie. Only a half hour earlier, she was at even par, now she was at 4 under!

Hole 11: A short par 4, but a very hilly fairway and green. You cannot play a hole better than Se Ri did this one. Perfect drive? Yes. Great approach? To the one spot on this tricky green where you have a thoroughly makeable birdie. Maybe four feet, up hill and not too curvy. It looked like #5 in a row when she lipped the thing out! And what was worse, it lipped out and stayed on the edge of the cup, not even an inch away. The barest of all possible lip outs.

Hole 12: This par 5 is straight and narrow. Hit it straight, and eagle is a possibility. Hit it left or right and anything can happen. Se Ri pummeled the ball, but was pretty mad about it. Turned out her drive was a bit off her usual length; she had only outdriven Bowie by 10 yards or so! She hit a solid second but ended up in the greenside bunker, then hit a lackluster out to five feet. But she still made the birdie. So she was one criminal lipout away from six straight birdies.

Hole 13: The par 3 over water. She hit a so so iron that was the exact right distance, but ten feet right of the hole. Almost made this birdie, too, but settled for par.

Hole 14: This hole is very narrow, and you simply cannot, repettez vous, cannot, hit your drive right on this hole. The trees over there are enormous. This was Se Ri's first mistake while I was watching her. She hit her drive due right, behind one of those monster trees, and was forced to punch out. Her third, from about 90 yards, landed ten feet past the hole. She was expecting action to snap it back, but got none. So her par putt failed to drop and she moved back to 4 under par.

Hole 15: Another narrow par 4, this one doglegs to the right. You can be anywhere but right on this hole. She hit a good drive, as usual blowing away her opponents, and a nice iron to 6 feet, but she missed this birdie, too.

Hole 16: This is a straight par 3, slightly uphill green. Se Ri hit a bad tee shot here that rolled off the back of the green. She putted from there, leaving the ball a few feet from the hole for a routine par save.

Hole 17: Another narrow par 4, with hidden water on the far right, and the trickiest green on the course, which is downhill from the tee. She drove it here a bit more left than optimal, but still in the fairway, albeit with a little tree trouble. As usual, she was longer than the others. Her wedge was OK, not much more, leaving her a 12 footer or so. Par.

Hole 18: Fun final hole. The fairway is narrow, and right in particular is bad, with a fairway bunker over there. Near the green is water to the left. Se Ri hit her drive right into the fairway bunker. Then she hit a gigantic, enormous, simply splendiferous out from the bunker to about three feet. I was sitting in the bleachers around the 18th and saw this ball just plop down right near the hole and stop, to the cheers of the crowd. OK, the putt was a bit downhill, and maybe there was a tiny break, but it was so close it looked like a certainty. Then she MISSED IT! Oi vey. Twice on the back nine, she had totally makeable birdies and missed them. She should have been tied with Grace at 66 going into Saturday. But still, a 68 is a pretty good starting round.

Se Ri's tee shot on hole 16
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