2003 ADT Tour Championship: Vare is the Love?

Grace struggled too. She matched a birdie on 10 with a bogey on 11, and a birdie on 14 with a bogey on 15. Still, coming into the last hole, she was even on the back nine and at 2 over par. Tied with Se Ri for overall score. Suddenly the gap between them to win the Vare was much smaller.

But 18 was playing tough on this day. If you did not get the approach on the right tier, you could watch in horror as your putt rolled all the way back down the hill to your feet. Several great players, such as Juli Inkster, had this very experience. Grace, too, suffered on this hole, notching a double bogey that left her at 4 over par 76 for the day.

Se Ri had her own challenges on the last few holes. After birdieing the par 5 16th to move to +1, she handled the tricky 16th hole nicely (Annika double bogeyed it). Then comes 17, perhaps the hardest hole on the course. A par 3 with water all along the right, and a little stream behind and to the side of the green. Practically an island green, and with the wind on Thursday, a nightmare. Se Ri's shot flew left, but stopped in the rough. It was so buried she could barely get it out onto the green, leaving herself with a 20 foot par save. Lo and behold, she drilled it, making a happy fist pump in the process. She went on to par the brutal 18th as well, finishing her day at 1 over par, four shots out of the lead and three shots ahead of Grace.

Grace chips during round 1 of the ADT Championship

On Friday, the conditions were slightly better, but not much. But Se Ri had a terrible front nine, a continuation of the 40 she shot on the back nine on Thursday. She bogeyed holes 1, 6, 7, and even the par 5 ninth, which she had nearly eagled on Thursday. She did manage a lone birdie on 2. This plunged her to 4 over par. It had looked like she was going to pull away from Grace, but now things had changed. Grace had an uneven front nine, going bogey-birdie-birdie-bogey on her first four holes, then making a double bogey on the par 3 7th before making birdie on 8. All in all she was one over on the front, and now sat at 5 over par, just one shot behind Se Ri. The Vare Trophy was not decided by a long shot.

Her hat is white, her club is black, and
her shirt is scarlet red... (sorry, I'm having
a flashback to an old TV commercial!)
LPGA.COM

But on the back nine, Se Ri rose to the occasion in a magnificent way, with one of the best runs of great play she had produced all season. She birdied every hole from 10 to 15 except the par 5 12th, strangely enough, which she parred. She gave herself a long eagle chance on 15 but had to settle for the tap in birdie. But her excellent play had allowed her to vault from 4 over par to one under in just six holes. Where she had seemed all but out of the tournament, she was now back in it again.

Then she hit the three deadly holes that end the round. Hole 16 seemed to go pretty well; her approach stopped more suddenly than she thought it would, but it was only about 25 feet from the hole. Unfortunately, she did not get her putt close and made bogey there to hurt her momentum. Back to even par. The 17th hole, the scary par 3, she handled nicely, with a gutsy iron to about ten feet. Again she missed the birdie.

Grace, meanwhile, could not get anything going on the back nine, and added two more bogeys on 14 and the par 5 15th. She did par through the three hardest holes, but ended up with a 3 over par 75 that put her at 7 over par. That meant she was now 8 shots behind Se Ri, and had to make up 14 shots in two rounds to have any chance to win the Vare. Seemed almost impossible.

Another powerful Grace drive on Friday...