Other Notes from Cheju Island

G-L-O-R-I-A
Gloria Park is the streakiest of all the Korean players. When she is on her game, she can beat anyone in the world, as she proved by winning the Williams Championship in 2001 by coming from way back in the field, or by beating Annika Sorenstam and Hee-Won Han head to head at the Sybase in 2002. The problem is, the rest of the time, she can be a non-factor, struggling to make cuts. All indications are that Gloria Park is hitting another hot streak, which might make wagering on her to win the Mizuno Classic, next week's event, a good idea. She had a 10th place finish at the Samsung. Coming into Sunday at the CJ 9 Bridges, she was in 26th place at one over par. 18 holes later, she had managed 10 birdies and no bogeys to shoot a 62, smashing Se Ri Pak and Shi Hyun Ahn's course record by three shots. This moved her all the way into a tie for second. That in turn vaulted her up the season money list into the top 40 for the first time in a long time, ahead of the idle Young Kim. Her round was highlighted by a 7 under par 29 on the backside; only the par 5 12th and the 16th yielded pars.

Gloria is all smiles after shooting
62 on Sunday

Grace and her new shorter 'do

Grace takes a short cut
Grace Park had her usual tournament in Korea this week. A great first round, a not so great second, then a decent third to collect her fourth second place finish of the year. Like Se Ri, she has more seconds this season than wins, four seconds to only a single win.

But that's not the most important thing to talk about with respect to Grace. No, the LPGA superstar also showed up at Cheju Island with a brand new short hairstyle. It looks more like something Se Ri would wear than Grace. When will the insanity stop? First Se Ri starts wearing the double pigtails a la Mi Hyun Kim; then Grace adopts the short Se Ri-style hairstyle. Since Grace also seems to have abandoned her trademark oversized visor this week, look for Mi Hyun to start wearing one soon...

Wie and Aree
The two most celebrated teenagers in the field at the start of the week were both not named Shi Hyun Ahn. Yet neither of those well known teens had a good tournament. Aree Song has only been a pro a short while, but she has yet to have a truly good event as one (give her time, though! She's only 17!). This week was no exception. Getting into the field as a sponsor's exemption, she only managed scores of 78 and 79 in the first two rounds before a modestly better 73 moved her into a tie for 66th. Michelle fared far worse. Her first round 85 was half a dozen shots worse than anyone else managed in round 1. Her second round 78 was not much better, but at least she broke par in round 3 with a 70. Still, it found her dead last in the field of 69. Time for a nice long break from tournament golf for the Big Wiesy, methinks!

Aree gives the thumbs-up as she arrives in Korea