She bounced back somewhat, and started to hit a few fairways and greens; on one drive she smashed it 297 yards, perhaps a little anger coming into play there? But though she had stopped the bogey train, she was still not able to make any headway, and by the ninth hole she was still 4 over. Her one solace might be that this course would doubtless have a high cut, so as long as she held it together she should still be able to make the cut. But 4 over was not going to win, and in a three round event, you could not throw that kind of opening round out and succeed.

Se Ri continued to try to solve the puzzle of El Cab, but she notched yet another bogey on 11, and walked dejectedly to the 12th tee. The 12th hole proved a bit better, though. At least this time she had a birdie opportunity, but her putt missed the hole and she tossed her putter dismissively at her bag. On 13 she managed another good tee shot, another great approach, but once again her putt failed to find the hole, although this time she was close. She definitely seemed to be working it out, though. On 14, her approach was about 25 feet short, but now it was her putting which impressed, just stopping next to the hole. All the ingredients were there, she just needed to get them all to gel at once.

Grace at the Office Depot
Reuters/Lucy Nicholson

Score! Se Ri makes eagle during round 1
AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill

The 15th hole is a par 4 with a tree virtually in the middle of the fairway. Se Ri bombed her drive, shaping it over and around the tree with ease. She plunked her approach very close, but the infernal greens caused it to roll about ten feet past. Not to worry: this time Se Ri knew what to do, and drained her long putt. Finally, a birdie! On 16 she got it really close, but again the greens funneled it a bit away. And again, Se Ri put in the birdie. She was back to +3. Then came 17, the short par 5, and two shots later Se Ri was sitting with a 15 foot putt for eagle. Somehow you knew she was going to make it; she surveyed the putt from every angle, and Colin even got down on all fours to help. Up she stepped, and in it went, and just like that, in just three holes, Se Ri had dug herself out from her +5 start to +1. She gave herself yet another great chance for birdie on 18, but this one lipped out, a bit of bad luck; but a 73 on this course did the job: keeping her (barely) in the tournament. Elsewhere, Annika would finish with an impressive 4 under 68, which included not one but two hole outs from off the green, a tee shot into the trees that bounced back into the fairway, and a 60+ foot eagle putt. Annika had some serious good luck working for her, but she was also showing cracks in her game, specifically her putting. Se Ri was five shots back, but that ground could be made up if she could keep her good play going.

I am indebted to two big fans of Se Ri's, fanofseri and san_francisco, for their in person accounts of Saturday's and Sunday's action. On Saturday, Se Ri was playing with Juli Inkster and Dorothy Delasin. She started the day in 12th place. She got off to a ragged start by parring the first par 5 (after ending up in a fairway bunker) and bogeying the tricky second hole. She would stay at +2 until the next par 5, which she birdied, and ended up shooting even par on the front nine. Again, her driving was the primary culprit, as she seemed unable to keep herself in the short grass most of that nine. On the back, however, her drives started to click. She hit a gorgeous tee shot to 6 feet on 10 and converted to move to even par. On 11, she was again within 6 feet of the pin, but missed the 6 footer for birdie.

And that was basically the pattern for the rest of the round. She hit every remaining fairway and every remaining green except the 16th green. She had birdie putts on 12, a foot short; 13, inches short; 14, inches away; 15, lipout; 18, missed four footer. If her karma had been just a little different, she might have been 3 or 4 under par by the time she had finished that stretch of holes. But everything else seemed to be going well. And with Annika at 4 under, and Se Ri in 6th place at Even, she was, unbelievably, still in a position to win.