Amazing Grace looks set for 2003

Grace Park had a wonderful off season, culminating in her first ever endorsement. And what an endorsement: she signed a multi-year deal with Nike, the biggest sports company in the world, to represent them in numerous ways. She now wears their apparel, shoes and gloves, and has a Nike swoosh on her bag.

But the most significant result of this contract is that now Grace is contracted to use Nike clubs and balls. As part of her signing festivities, she went to Nike research HQ in Texas and worked with their club experts for several days to get fitted to the best equipment for her needs. Well and good, but switching equipment can be a dicey proposition. It sometimes takes a while for a player to get fully acclimated to her new clubs and ball. She did not receive the new stuff until but a few weeks before the start of the season, meaning if she did have trouble with it, she wouldn't have any time to get used to it before the first few events. So her performance at the Welch's tournament would be an interesting barometer of the state of her game.

Grace walks down the runway in her Nike clothes

Grace in 2002

Judging by her fourth place finish this week, there was little to worry about. Grace is stronger than she was last year, thanks to a rigorous off season conditioning program. She is focused, and has taken to her new equipment like a duck to water. And perhaps best of all, her attitude seems to have improved. Even when things went badly this week, she found a way to adopt Se Ri's 'That's Golf' attitude and not let it get her down.

Grace went with the flow nicely in the first two rounds. She shot a respectable five under 65 in round one, and it goes to show just how low the scoring was that a 65 could only be called 'respectable' and not 'fantastic'. In round 2 she really flexed her muscles, blowing long drives down the fairway and making a gaggle of birdies to score her career best 63 (although her best score in relation to par is an 8 under 64, and this was only a 7 under score on this par 70 layout). But even that score left her four strokes out of the lead after Meg Mallon missed shooting a 59 by only a foot.

The weather got a little tougher in round 3, especially in the afternoon, and as a result, the players were no longer going as low as previously. Paired with Laura Davies in a battle of long bombers, she held her own, shooting a 2 under 68. A few players, however, managed to go low, including rookie Christina Kim playing on her 19th birthday, who shot a 62. Fortunately, Grace was still within range of the leaders, and a good Sunday could still capture the cup for her.

On Sunday, the weather got significantly worse. Strong winds forced some players to hit two and even three more clubs on some holes than they had previously. There were also intermittent rain showers that drenched the participants. In those conditions, length would really be an asset, and not surprisingly, Australian long hitter Wendy Doolan quickly rose up the leaderboard. Grace held her own, but stayed pretty much three to four strokes back much of the day. Then Grace went on a little hot streak and made things a lot more interesting. Digging deep, she moved to 18 under with a clutch birdie and a par 5 still ahead of her. With 240 to the pin into a fierce headwind, she pulverized her second shot and reached the green. However, she had an enormous putt on a slow green, and did not hit it hard enough, walking off with par. Grace kept fighting, though, and notched another birdie after a superlative wedge, to move to 19 under. Coupled with a rare three putt from Doolan, Grace now was only one shot out of the lead.