Wegman's Rochester 2003: Other Notes

Up and down week for Christina
Christina Kim has had an excellent rookie campaign, made all the more impressive by the fact she is the youngest player on the LPGA. But this week, she had a really wild ride. She played decently in the first two rounds to make the cut, but in the third round things went crazy on her and she shot an 80. She recovered in the fourth round with her first sub-par round of the week, to move to a rather depressing 11 over par and a 69th place finish. Still, a made cut is a made cut, and her attitude always seems to be that the more she plays, the better she will get. Which is the right way to look at it, methinks!

Peanut on the Beach
(sounds like an alternative rock group)
Reuters/Gary Wiepert

Kimmie fails to avenge 2002
All Seoul Sister fans can recall the unfortunate results of last year's tournament. With just a few holes left in round three, Mi Hyun Kim had an eight shot lead on Karrie Webb. For all intents and purposes, the super steady Kimmie could be forgiven for preparing her victory speech. But Webb birdied her last three holes to move to within five. Then Peanut produced one of the worst rounds of her career, not in terms of score, but in terms of mistakes. It didn't help her that she had been so worried about the weather turning that she had not slept well, and then the weather DID turn, producing winds that made life tough for her. And thus Mi Hyun missed a great chance to end her long victory drought. The good news is she did get a victory just a few short weeks later at the Giant Eagle. But coming into this year's event, she had to be one of the faves. Alas, nothing much went right for her on the weekend, though in the first two rounds she did put herself on the leaderboard with a 69-71 start. A Saturday 77, most uncharacteristic of her, did her in, and she finished with a 33rd place result. Still, Mi Hyun is bound to get her game in gear soon; perhaps she will peak at the Open, then her Rochester letdown will be quickly forgotten.