Grace was a different story. Her driving woes of the first two days continued with a vengeance, and she found herself for a third straight day spending far too much time trying to salvage par rather than make birdie. On this day, Grace would only hit 9 greens, a fairly terrible stat, but not surprising, considering she only hit 5 fairways. She made the turn at one over, and though she took advantage of two of the first three par 5's, otherwise she was bereft of birdies. 'Hurricane Grace', the angry typhoon of emotion that sometimes engulfs her, erupted several times on the back nine, including once when she hit a drive, dropped the club before the swing was even done, then kicked it in disgust. We've all been there, Grace! Finally, she reached the 18th hole, but even that proved a struggle, and she was faced with a longish putt to even save bogey. Thankfully for her sanity (and the safety of her clubs), she made it, and had a little something to hold on to. Remarkably, she was only one over par on the day, which left her just five shots out of first place. The battle between the Korean Big Two had been less than stellar, as neither had played all that well. But the war still had one more round to go.

Grace in rd 3, hopefully hitting the fairway
AP Photo/Don Heupel

Grace in round 4
Reuters/Gary Wiepert

On Sunday, both ladies had something to prove to themselves, and they both wanted their last round before the Open to be a positive experience. And they both still had a chance to win, provided they came with their top game. I'm happy to say that both acquitted themselves admirably. For Grace, at last she got to play a round where her long game was behaving itself. Still not a masterpiece, she nonetheless hit 10 of 14 fairways, nearly twice as many as she had on any other day of the event. She also hit 11 greens. But best of all, her putting stayed just as sharp, resulting in a real run at the title.

It did not start that well for her, with a bogey on the first hole. She birdied the par 5 4th, but instantly gave that back with another bogey on 5. But Grace birdied the next par 5 to go out in even par. Not the kind of score that gave her a lot of hope to win, but at least she was playing decent golf.

It was on the back that she really caught fire, however. She hit a fantastic iron shot close on 14, the hardest hole on the course, and her birdie there, coupled with another on the par 5 11th, moved her to 4 under. But the par 3 15th showed just why Grace had been able to stay in the tournament. It was a microcosm of how her entire attitude and game have improved. She hit a decent tee shot, but left it well short of the hole. Hitting uphill, she stroked it way too hard and blew the putt past the hole and off the green. The look on her face was a familiar one; frustration, and a gritty attempt to keep her emotions in check. She went up to the putt from the fringe, which must have been 20 feet, and calmly drained it. A fighting par that kept her momentum going!

Meanwhile, Se Ri's ball striking was just fine; with a second day in a row like this, the hope is that she will be able to carry that over to the Open, where strong driving is at such a premium. She would go on to hit 11 fairways on the day, her best of the week, and 13 greens. She had great drives all day, blistering one measured drive 282 yards, and placed a lion's share of her tee shots in the middle of the fairway. Her irons were a bit off at times, but she was still giving herself birdie opportunity after birdie opportunity. And yet once again, her putting was not getting the job done. It took her until hole 6 to get anything other than a par, and then she got a bogey. But then she went on a little run, with birdies on the next three holes, a par 3, par 5 and par 3 stretch. It looked for a minute like she was gone, but she had crawled back to 5 under. But on the back, once again, the frustration mounted. She was in the bunker on the par 5 11th in two, hit a decent out to about 5 feet, than completely missed the birdie. On 12 she was but 100 yards from the green after her drive, but hit a wayward wedge that had the perfect distance but ended up some thirty feet left of the hole, in the fringe. Pretty lackluster stuff from that distance for her. On 13 she had a great run at birdie that just missed, and on 14 she pulled off a great par save after her tee shot put her under a tree on the right side of the fairway. But on 15 her luck ran out, and her bogey there effectively ended her chances of a come from behind victory. Still, it was apparent watching her that her main problem was confidence on the greens. Some of those later putts, she just did not stroke with authority. Thus they were close, but not in.

Se Ri fought hard on Sunday
Reuters/Gary Wiepert