2003 Safeway Classic: Saturday (cont.)

Hole 12: This par 5 produced another good drive from Se Ri. Her approach went right of the greenside bunker. Unfortunately, it nestled down into some heavy rough, and her pitch over the bunker out of that did not get very close to the hole. She was able to make par, however.

Hole 13: Today the pin was in the back left of the green on this par 3. Se Ri's tee shot was far away but on the green. Her first putt still left her three feet from the hole, but she still saved par.

Hole 14: This must be Se Ri's least favorite hole on the course, owing to its narrowness. Today she hit a drive that again provoked a sour expression from her. But it turned out to be fine. Her approach was the farthest of the three players from the hole, maybe twenty feet away. But lo and behold, she was the only one of the three to make birdie, moving to 7 under par!

Hole 15: She put her tee shot into the left fairway bunker, then her approach flew into the rough right of the green. Here she hit a truly bad chip that stopped 15 feet short of the hole. The par saving putt still almost went, but bogey. She dropped her putter in disgust after that.

Hole 16: Par 3. She hit a really bad tee shot over the green. She chipped it nicely, but it wouldn't stop rolling, going four feet past the hole. She just missed that par putt. In just a few minutes she went from 7 under to 5 under, really making it tough to stay in the tournament. In fact, this might have been the stretch where she lost the tournament.

Se Ri was not so satisfied with this shot
SeoulSisters.com photo

A solid drive by Se Ri
SeoulSisters.com photo

Hole 17: A long wait while the grounds crew vacuumed the 17th green for Kang's group. Kang hit an approach that barely cleared the bunker, then hit a great putt to inches for par. Se Ri's drive was decent. Then she hit a fantastic iron that landed right next to the hole, but did not bite and rolled four feet past. Still, a really good chance for birdie on this tricky hole. But she missed the birdie putt.

Hole 18: This was possibly one of the best drives I've ever seen Se Ri hit. She smoked it down the fairway, dead straight. When I got down to the green, I discovered that she had hit the ball all the way past the fairway grandstand and almost to the scoreboard. At most she had 70 yards to the hole, possibly less. In all the years I have watched this tournament, I have never seen a longer drive on this hole than that one. Not by anybody. Wow. Despite that, she put her pitch only about 8 feet away, and was not able to convert the birdie. So she ended her day at 5 under par, four out of the lead.

The leaders finished at 9 under par. Minny Yeo ended up shooting an 80 and missing the cut. Christina Kim also had a bad back nine and missed the cut by a stroke.

But several other Korean players were still in the tournament. Soo-Yun Kang was only two shots back at 7 under par, and Grace was at 6 under. Mi Hyun Kim had a terrible round and fell to 2 under, but Se Ri sat at 5 under, four shots out of the lead. Could one of the three solidly placed Korean players make a run at the title on Sunday?