Nabisco 2003: Slammed

Se Ri Pak came into the Nabisco fresh off a stirring win at the Office Depot, and arguably one of her very greatest rounds of golf. But she knew that was just a warmup for the main event: the first Major of the year, and the one Major she had not been able to add to her collection, the Kraft Nabisco. A win here, and she walks off with one of the few records Annika Sorenstam cannot achieve: the youngest to accomplish the career Grand Slam.

Se Ri's history in the event has been spotty. In 1998, she wasn't high enough on the money list to qualify for the tournament. Thus, it was the last of the four Majors she ever played. In 1999 and 2000, she had the problem of not playing very well until the early summer, so the event just fell too early in the schedule for her.

In 2001, however, it seemed like she was finally ready to contend. She was playing some of the best golf of her young career, winning the opening event of the year, and finishing second two consecutive weeks to Annika Sorenstam after that. The second of those events, the Ping, saw Se Ri shoot her lowest score ever in relation to par, 25 under, and still lose. But for two and a half rounds at the Nabisco, she looked strong. Indeed, during the third round she looked so confident that it seemed for a while like everyone else was playing for second place. She seized the lead and the momentum.

Se Ri tries to coax a putt in

Se Ri during round 1

Then everything came apart: a bogey train that knocked her four shots back, and from which she never recovered. She finished outside the top ten that year. In 2002, she was again only four shots out of the lead going into the final round, but unlike at the previous Major (the British Open), or the next Major (the LPGA Championship), both of which she won from four back, she was unable to do much of anything on Sunday and finished ninth. A nagging wrist injury which had caused her to miss the previous event did not help matters.

In this year's event, Se Ri got off to an awful start. Paired with Karrie Webb, who herself played miserably, the two notched several bogeys to slide well off the lead. But both rallied, and by the end of the day Se Ri had a respectable 71 to show for her efforts. This put her three shots behind Annika, but in a Major, that was not bad at all.

The next two days, Se Ri played well, but was never able to make much headway, so that by Saturday, she was still 3 shots behind Annika. The bad news is, Patricia Meunier Lebouc had shot to 8 under, a six shot lead. Se Ri was probably going to have to go low to win, or else hope the inexperienced Frenchwoman would cough up the lead.

Well, Sunday came, and after 8 holes Se Ri was still not able to make any headway. Then, just as in 2001, she got onto a bogey train that threatened to knock her out of the top 20. My theory is that she realized time was running out and tried to press the issue. That sort of thing can work or it can backfire, and this time it did the latter.

Se Ri ended up with her season worst score of 77, bad enough to knock her from 4th all the way back to 15th. At least she maintained her record of finishing in the top 15 in Majors; she has done that now in 18 of the 20 Majors she has played in, a truly remarkable feat. But she will have to wait another year to try her luck at the Slam; hopefully by then she will be in the Hall of Fame, and will have the luxury of not putting quite so much pressure on herself as before.