Alas, imagine the worst start Grace would be likely to have, and it wouldn't be much worse than what actually happened. On her very first shot on Sunday, she snap hooked her drive into the water and ended up carding a double bogey, her third of the week. On 2 the misery continued, with a failed sand save. Another bogey, and now she was two shots behind. She only parred the par 5 third, then on four did something she claims she had never done before: shanked a simple approach shot. She was lucky to get bogey.

Thinking back on her +4 start, she remarked that at least her putting felt good. But she felt that she could get the rest of her game back if she just believed in herself. She was determined not to let the rest of her round go the way the first four holes had; after all, even at 5 under she was still not far out of the lead.

Thus her rally began, with a tee shot on 5 that landed inches from the cup. Re-energized, she drilled a 15 foot birdie on 6, and a 6 footer on 7. And just like that, she was back to one over for the day. But on the par 5 7th, Cristie made eagle, giving her a two shot lead. It was a lead that would prove tough for Grace to overcome.

Grace kicked a few golf bags during round 3

Peanut made a run during the final round
Reuters/Brendan McDermid

Especially since she missed the green on hole ten, and despite her best efforts, was not able to save par. Now she was looking at a three shot deficit. By this point, Mi Hyun Kim had made a surprise charge up the leaderboard. Or perhaps it shouldn't seem like such a surprise: after all, Peanut had proved in the past to be quite good at last round heroics. She went four under on the front nine to move to 8 under. With Ochoa holding steady at that score, Karrie Webb also making a move up the leaderboard, and Cristie at 10 under, Grace had a lot of work to do.

As it turned out, Mi Hyun went along fine until the 15th, a par five she surprisingly bogeyed. She would finish at 7 under. Webb was not able to make any more progress after stalling at 8 under, where she finished. Ochoa, playing with Se Ri Pak, had a distant chance of moving to 9 under, but her approach did not stay on the right level of the 18th green, so she too finished at 8 under.

And Grace still had the par 5 15th to play, which gave her a good chance to move back to 8 under herself. But unfortunately, Cristie Kerr also had that hole to play. Kerr's play had been erratic much of the weekend tee to green, but she seemed to be able to dig herself out time and again with her short game. But after her drive on 15, with only 200 yards to go, she pulled her 5 wood approach into the trees. Grace had a chance to gain some ground! She struck her own approach, but left it short, in some gnarly rough in front of the green. Birdie would not be easy.

Kerr hacked her way out of the trees, but still had a tough shot from deep rough to the green. She got onto the green, but a mile from the hole. Grace then stepped up to her shot, a dicey little pitch. She hit it smoothly, and watched as her shot settled sweetly about 5 feet from the hole. The pressure shifted to Kerr, who needed to make par to avoid a potential two shot swing. Alas, she failed, and when Grace drilled her birdie a moment later, she moved to 8 under and Kerr fell to 9 under.

Clutch Grace

The next hole, the par 4 16th, proved the pivotal hole in the tournament. It is an odd one: in the middle of the fairway is a big railroad piling that separates the fairway into two distinct levels. On Saturday Grace had left her drive right next to the piling on the bottom level, and got a drop to the top level, requiring her to walk a ways to climb up there. Kerr had hit a terrible drive on Saturday into the right trees. She somehow hacked it out, and watched with glee as her second shot rolled up onto the edge of the green. She then made an improbable 45 foot birdie putt. Surely the golf gods were going to exact payment for that bit of good karma?

Both ladies hit their drives fine on Sunday. But with only a short approach to the green, Crisite pulled her 9 iron well right of the green. Grace got hers to the middle of the green, albeit about 30 feet from the hole. Still, a one shot swing was quite possible, for Kerr had a tricky up and down prospect. And indeed, her pitch was not very good, leaving her about 8 feet for par. Grace spent some time lining up the putt with her caddie. It broke quite a bit, but Kerr had made a significantly longer putt on the same green the day before, so everyone knew it was possible. Grace stroked the putt, and it was gorgeous. Five seconds later it dropped into the cup, and just like that, Grace was in a tie for the lead. A moment after that, Kerr missed her par, and for the first time since the first hole, Grace had sole possession of the lead. In just two holes she went from three shots down to one shot in the lead.

But it was far from over. The par 3 17th had a narrow driving area, with an ominous tree on the left and a deadly drop off to the right. Grace hit a nice shot, which landed on the right fringe, and looked for a moment like it might roll down that hill. But the rough halted its descent. Kerr landed in the left rough, and both ladies made strong par saves. On to 18.