Corning 2003: Peanut's Putter Putters Out

Mi Hyun Kim, also known as Peanut, Super Peanut and Kimmie, is famous for the excellence of her short game. It's been said that being 'close to your work' helps you in being a good putter, and Mi Hyun, who stands all of 5 feet tall, is closer than most. So it is more than a bit odd that the thing that has been dogging her the last few weeks has been her work with the flat stick. Corning would, alas, prove no different.

Mi Hyun has a tendency to start the season slowly, shooting a number of decent scores that land her around 20th by the end of the tournament. 2003 has certainly followed that pattern. For Kimmie fans, the task becomes waiting for her to start her summer rush. The first sign that warm weather is coming is that Mi Hyun starts to heat up, by notching a few top tens, and then before you know it, as we are all sweating under the summer sun, Mi Hyun is contending time and again on tour.

Peanut's putting has been a bit frustrating this year
Star-Gazette/Rebecca Towns

Peanut at the Asahi Ryokuken
Reuters/Tami Chappell

A couple weeks ago, Mi Hyun had the big top ten performance at the Michelob Light Open. Kimmie came from seemingly nowhere to move to within one shot of the lead, and with Grace Park fading fast, it looked as though Peanut had a great chance to get her first win of the year. However, she stalled from there and finished fifth, still good and still a good indicator that Peanut was ready to rock.

Not so fast, though, for at the next event, the Asahi Ryokuken, Mi Hyun again had a tough time of it, ending up with a 28th place finish. Looking at the scores from that week, one thing really stands out: her putting. In one round, Mi Hyun even had a 34 putt performance, positively pitiful for a player of her putting prowess. Still, you had to figure that that was going to be an isolated blip on her otherwise stellar short game resume, right?

Well, Mi Hyun had some more struggles with putting again at the Corning. It all started well enough. Mi Hyun put together a very solid 67, just three shots out of the lead. Not that this should be a surprise. Corning is the type of track that Mi Hyun usually thrives on: tight fairways, precision shots a must, length not a particular advantage. And Mi Hyun has one other thing going for her: a consistency that usually holds her in good stead come Sunday.

The second round was encouraging. She managed a 69, which was around average for the leaders on this day. This means she dropped a little further out of the lead, and now stood in a tie for 8th, four shots off the pace. Soo Yun Kang had come out of nowhere with an 8 under 64 to zoom ahead of her, but Mi Hyun was still the second best Korean on the board, and a strong weekend would still put her in the hunt and maybe even in the winner's circle.

Peanut putts in round 3
Reuters/Gary Wiepert