Jang is Major Tough

Jang also shot a 72 on day one, and followed that up with a 3 over par 74 to sit at +4 for the tournament. This put her a good deal behind the leaders, and probably out of the running for the title. But like Peanut, we had not heard the last of the diminutive, budding star.

Friday has been Se Ri's problem day in every event since she started her latest run of horrible results, and this week it proved no different. To make things worse, she had to play 23 holes thanks to the rain. Though she managed to finish her first round off nicely, when she came back for her next 18 holes, things got much much worse. Her driver, which had hardly been strong in round one, became miserable. She would only hit a pitiful 5 fairways in 14 tries. For a player of her caliber to be struggling, after two days, to even hit 50% of her fairways is jaw dropping. But unlike the first day, she was not getting her ball on the greens so often, either. The result was a lot of practice at getting it up and down, and a 5 over par 76 that removed her from contention. For awhile, it looked like she might even miss the cut, but fortunately for her, she finished the day within ten shots of the leader, thus insuring herself a payday this week.

This picture tells you all you need to
know about Se Ri's US Open: deep grass

Grace hung tough the first two days
(AP Photo)

Grace Park did not have a great day, either, but her 3 over par 74 kept her theoretically in contention. The big surprise of the day was Kimmie. After nearly knocking herself out of the event on Thursday, she rallied with a very impressive three under par 68 that allowed her to climb back to 2 over par. The consistency she had shown all year reappeared at just the right time: like on Thursday, she hit 11 of 14 fairways, but also nabbed four more greens in regulation, resulting in 6 birdies on the day compared to just 2 on day one.

The problem was that Jenny Rosales, the Filipina star who had only recently won her first event, was playing magnificent golf. She sat at 5 under after the day was done, and Annika Sorenstam was not far behind her. Hopefully those players would come back a little to the field, otherwise Kimmie and company had no chance to make a run for the crown.

Saturday's results were not pretty. Not even a single Korean could manage to put herself in the top ten going into Sunday. Essentially, this insured that a Sister would not be snagging the title in 2004. For a while, though, Kimmie looked promising. She had two birdies on the front nine to go out in two under par. Another birdie on the par 5 13th, and suddenly she was at 1 under par total, while the leaders still sat around 5 under. But the course's toughest holes awaited, and they were not kind to Peanut: she double bogeyed the par 4 16th, a 439 yard monster that was playing into the wind, so that Mi Hyun could not even reach the green in two, and bogeyed 18 as well. She finished her day at 1 over with an even par round.

Se Ri hung in there, but was at 4 over par, in no position to make a serious run at anything. This day, she actually managed to hit more than half her fairways (8!), and 13 greens in regulation as well; but her putting was doing her no favors. For the third straight day, she managed a lackluster 32 putts in her round. She finished at even par for the round, a good score in a Major. But she would have needed something far more impressive to make it interesting for her fans.

Grace Park, meanwhile, came apart at the seams. She had a Se Ri-like driving day (in the bad sense), hitting only 6 fairways. Her putting was solid, but when you only hit 6 greens in regulation, it had better be. She collapsed to a 6 over par 77 despite making her second eagle on the par 5 13th in three days. Grace now had to worry about finishing last among those who made the cut. Despite the seeming unlikeliness of that, she came perilously close to that sorry result.

For Sisters fans, the tidings weren't so great. Kimmie was still the best chance for a top ten, but it looked very doubtful that any of the professional Korean players would contend for the championship. JJ was, as usual, the quiet creeper. She had shot a third round 71 to remain at 4 over par, well out of the hunt, but still as solid as any of the other Korean players had been. With the stars sidelined, perhaps she had a chance to get noticed at last.

Grace putts on Thursday
(click to enlarge)

Peanut during round 2

Jeong Jang kept plugging away
all weekend. Finally, it
started to pay dividends

Sunday was another bad day for the stars. Grace shot an even worse round than she had on Saturday; her 79 in fact did plunge her to second to last place, tied with defending champion Hilary Lunke. Clearly, her back must have been bothering her; Grace Park simply does not shoot two such horrible rounds in succession without a reason. Still, she managed for a third day to eagle 13. If only the rest of the course had been so kind!

Se Ri started the day as badly as she could; she had three bogeys on the front nine, and a double bogey 7 on the par 5 ninth. Just when it looked like she might join Grace at the bottom, though, she recovered, birdieing 13 and 14 and surviving the tough three final holes with all pars. Her 7 over par score left her in 32nd place eventually. Another weak Major performance for the woman who was once money in Majors. Afterwards, when asked what was the matter, she did not hesitate to answer. ""My driver. Oh, my driver," she said. "I'm doing everything else good, just my driving. It's the worst I've ever felt. I'm not confident." One must wonder how long the driver dilemma will haunt her this season.

Mi Hyun was better positioned to make some noise, but once again, a good start was followed by a weak finish. She was not able to make herself a factor. Which left JJ to try to uphold the Korean honor. All year there had not yet been an event devoid of Korean players in the top ten, and only Jeong Jang had a chance to keep that streak alive. But at 4 over to start the day, she'd have to play mighty well to do it.