Office Depot 2003: Se Ri Fighting!

The Office Depot Championship Hosted by Amy Alcott holds special memories for Seoul Sister Suprema Se Ri Pak. In 2002, it was her third event, after two decent but unspectacular performances at the Ping and Nabisco Championships. By this point Annika Sorenstam already had two wins and a second place finish, and if Se Ri were going to make any headway in the player of the year race, she had to start doing it soon.

Luckily for her, they had moved the tournament to a new course that year, the cripplingly hard El Caballero layout in Tarzana, California. Known for its tricky greens, it was just the kind of course at which the cream was sure to rise to the top. And sure enough, after two rounds, Se Ri had taken a three shot lead over none other than Annika. It was their first showdown of the year, playing in the final group, and an enormous gallery followed their exploits. Although Se Ri was always tough playing with a lead, Annika made a move, and before long caught Se Ri. But Se Ri wouldn't give up her trophy so easily, and soon battled back to a three shot lead. Then came the 17th hole, a par 5 with a lot of water in play. Se Ri laid up, but then hit her third shot over the green, while Annika went for it in two and had a legit eagle chance. The entire three shot lead could evaporate right there, but in the end it was a two shot swing, Annika scoring birdie while Se Ri made bogey. Fortunately for Se Ri, they both missed birdies on 18, and Se Ri maintained her one shot lead and notched her first win of the year.

The 2002 Office Depot was full of drama

Driving in round 1
Reuters/ Lucy Nicholson

In the ensuing year, Office Depot proved that they were the kind of sponsor the LPGA loves. Not only did they increase the purse of the event for 2003 by 50%, to 1.5 million dollars, but they also aggressively advertised the event for several months in the Los Angeles area. In January, they painted hundreds of Office Depot trucks with a giant picture of Se Ri, the defending champion: it was the photo of her holding her putter in the air and reacting to a missed putt. They put an enormous banner across the entrance to El Cab, again showing Se Ri; and they invited Se Ri to an area Office Depot on Monday to give out autographs and meet fans.

Given the large Korean population in southern California, it was probably a good idea to advertise Se Ri's participation, even had she not been the defending champion. But the probability that Se Ri could do it again hung in the air, for if anything, the course was playing even harder than it had in 2002. In particular, the greens were nightmares, faster than before and still as tricky. Any shot that missed a green had better be under the hole; hitting over most greens was an almost certain bogey. And hitting fairways suddenly became the bright thing to do, because shots out of the rough would be very difficult to stop on the green.

Se Ri played the first round with Seoul Sister Grace; both looked like prime candidates to walk off with the top prize. But almost immediately the wheels came off for both of them. Se Ri in particular did exactly what she shouldn't have done: missed fairways. In fact, she missed the first three fairways, and thus could not hold any of those greens. And just like that, in three holes, three bogeys. She added a fourth bogey on the fifth hole, and in just an hour had pretty much knocked herself out of the tournament.