It got even more amazing on Saturday. By the halfway point, an unbelievable *seven* Korean players sat in the top ten on the leaderboard: Jung Yeon Lee, Grace Park, Se Ri Pak, Mi Hyun Kim, Seol-An Jeon, Aree Song, and Shi Hyun Ahn. Ahn was a huge mover on the day, thanks to a blistering 28 on the front nine that vaulted her all the way to 9 under par. The Cinderella of the LPGA, Ahn had qualified for the tour by coming out of nowhere to win the CJ 9 Bridges Classic. Determined to prove this was no fluke, she had worked extremely hard in the off-season to hone her game. It paid immediate dividends in her first event as a full time LPGA pro. Already one of the top nonexempt players on tour, she can expect to stay near the top of that list if she keeps playing like this. Alas, as good as her front nine was, she struggled to several consecutive bogeys on the back and slipped back down the leaderboard again. But it wouldn't be the last we'd hear of her.

Se Ri Pak also launched one of her furious Saturday charges, and moved from 3 under to 9 under in just nine holes. She once again sat in fourth place, well in contention. But the back nine had been cruel to Se Ri all week, and it was that way again on Saturday. She was not able to complete a historic round, and had to settle for even par the rest of the way and a good but not good enough 64.

Shi Hyun Ahn played brilliantly on her front
nine Saturday

Grace shot her career best round of 61 on
Saturday
AP Photo/Wily Low

The big mover on Saturday, though, was Grace Park, who finished an already strong round with birdies on 14, 15, 17 and 18 to shoot her career best 61. So she and Lee were the two players who broke the 62 barrier at this year's Welch's event. That score moved her all the way to within one of the lead, even ahead of Lee, and gave her the best chance of all the Seoul Sisters to take the crown.

And for a while Sunday, she and Stupples battled it out brilliantly. Indeed, coming into the par 5 13th hole, Grace was only one shot behind Stupples, and one shot ahead of Lee. Shi Hyun Ahn played another fantastic round, again getting to 7 under on the day, and this time staying there, shooting her career best 63 and finishing tied for fifth with another, even younger rookie, Aree Song. Seol-An Jeon, yet another Korean rookie, did not play as well on Sunday, but her 69 was good enough for 8th, a top ten in her first LPGA event as a tour member. Adding Se Ri and Mi Hyun, who shot 67 and 66 respectively to finish tied for 8th with Jeon, and you had an unbelievable seven Koreans in the top ten. Nothing like that had ever happened in an LPGA event before; the previous record had been six, in an event played in Korea. In a word, wow.

But Grace and Lee still had a chance to win the whole shebang, so they became the focus. That is, until the 13th hole. On that par 5, Grace hit a wonderful drive, but her second shot was not good, and landed in one of the few patches of deep rough on the course. Stupples put her second on the green, and to add insult to injury, sunk a 40 foot eagle putt. Grace's ball was in deep doo doo, and it was all she could do to get it out; she could not keep her chip on the green. She made a testy par save, but instantly dropped three shots behind Stupples.

At this point, Grace needed to apply some pressure. Stupples hit her next drive left, but got a lucky break when the ball bounced out of some trees. Her lie wasn't great, and she did not hit a great out, but again got a lucky break when her approach hit the rough on the side of the green and took a mysterious bounce to the right, landing only ten feet from the hole. Winning tournaments is always a combination of great shots and getting the breaks when you need them, and Stupples got all the breaks she needed on 14. Grace, meanwhile, hit two great shots, and had a good birdie chance, but missed it. She missed another one on 15, and that was it, really. Stupples notched another birdie, and Grace barely avoided dunking her tee shot on 17 for the second year in a row (it was the shot that probably cost her the tournament last year). For the final indignity, Grace bogied the 18th hole and fell back into a tie for 2nd with Jung Yeon Lee.

Still, it was hardly a bad round for her, a three under par 67. She was just playing a player who seemed to have destiny on her side. Grace and Jung Yeon can both be proud of their performances all week, and Se Ri and the rest helped contribute to an historic day for the Korean players. If the rest of the season is anything like this first event, no doubt we will see many trophies added to Korean mantles before the Tour Championship in November.

Grace gave it her all on Sunday, but it wasn't enough
AP Photo/Wily Low