Takefuji 2003: Se Ri Putters Out

Se Ri Pak isn't the biggest gambler in the world, but she does like to play the slot machines when she is in Vegas. By and large she hasn't had too much success at them, but what does it matter if you lose $60 bucks in the machines, like she did in 1999, if you turn around and win the golf title the next day?

Well, if you are a gambler, and you like to play the odds, and you hear that one of the greatest golfers in the game is hitting 80% of her greens in regulation, you'd be forgiven if you put a few dollars down on her to win the tournament. After all, that player probably didn't get to be a superstar without being able to convert a few putts, right? Especially when she is getting shortish birdie putts all day long.

If you then found out that she was also hitting 32 of 42 fairways, when she had been having problems earlier in the year keeping her drives straight, you'd probably be even more inspired. And say you found out that she was in 8th place after the first round, when she had previously had problems getting off to a great start, that her primary opponent was five shots behind her, and that most of the players ahead of her were untested youngsters or players who had but a fraction of her wins? Again, the odds say, bet the farm.

Se Ri misses a putt during round 1
Reuters/Jeff Topping

Se Ri drives it in round 1
Reuters/Jeff Topping

And indeed, in Vegas you can get rich (or at least stay out of the poorhouse) by playing the odds. But no matter how carefully you plan, sometimes the results will not turn out like the odds dictate. And unfortunately for Se Ri, this was one of those times.

Yes, it's true that she had a bit of trouble keeping her drives straight in the first round. And on Friday, round 2, this tendency resulted in one of the oddest sights I can remember from her: Se Ri had hit her drive so far right that she was in the middle of the next fairway, with actually a pretty good angle to the pin (it reminded me of a tournament a few years ago where there was a big water carry off one hole, and a lot of the shorter hitters were hitting their tee shots down the neighboring fairway to give themselves a better chance at reaching the green in one piece). But by and large, especially after the first day, Se Ri had corrected these problems. By Sunday, her long game was like a straight flush: practically a sure thing. She hit 16 greens in regulation and ten fairways Friday, and 13 greens and 13 fairways on Saturday. And on the back in particular, she was long, too, hitting a 282 yard missile on Saturday's backside measuring hole and a 291 yarder on Friday.