Evian Masters/British Women's Open

Although the Seoul Sisters have done well at both these events in the past, this year, their performances were not up to their usual standards. The Evian Masters is traditionally the second most lucrative event on the LPGA calendar, and coming as it does one week before the last Major of the year, is also one of the most important. Last year Juli Inkster ran away with the title, but the second place finisher was Hee-Won Han, who went on thereafter to notch a win at the Wendy's Championship a few weeks later.

This year, Hee-Won was again the best finisher among the Korean players. She notched a respectable 9 under total that left her in a tie for 6th by the end of the event. But this was still well below the winning score of 18 under par achieved by Wendy Doolan. Mi Hyun Kim, who has also played well at this event on several occasions, managed a 9th place finish. (A couple of years ago, she contended until the end, managing a tie for second place. At that time, the French fell in love with her, featuring so many shots of Mi Hyun walking down the fairway from all angles that it almost became a bit embarrassing. The highlight was when they framed a shot of a golfer teeing off by shooting through Mi Hyun's armpit!).

Mi Hyun Kim at the Evian Masters
in 2002

Grace waves to the fans at the Evian Masters.
Last year she was a 'Special Ambassador' at
this tournament, meaning she was featured in all
the ads for it.

Those were the good results. On the other end of the spectrum were the two Korean superstars Grace Park and Se Ri Pak. Se Ri has usually done well on this course, although she has never really contended for the title here. A few years ago, she shot an 8 under par 64 here, which was at the time tied for the course record (and may still be, although I believe Juli Inkster beat that last year). But this year, mired in the worst slump of her modern career, Se Ri struggled mightily all week. The nadir, perhaps of her entire season, came on Saturday. After shooting two 73s, she was well out of contention, but still had a chance with a decent weekend to post a respectable finish. Instead, she shot the worst round of the year, and the second worst of her LPGA career, a disheartening 81. This round contained two out of bounds shots and 4 double bogeys, the most she had ever had in one round in her career. The only time she ever shot a worse round was at Pumpkin Ridge at last year's US Women's Open (a round I had the sorry luck to see live), but that was a far tougher course than the one she played at Evian Les Bain. Her final result was a 13 over par score and a 68th place finish.

Grace Park had a roller coaster tournament. Ever since she was forced to cut a tournament short due to back issues a couple of months ago, she has not been at her best. Her US Women's Open finish, a tie for 64th, was well below what she had achieved in the previous Open (in fact, Grace had had a string of five straight top tens in Majors coming into that event). The bad form continued at Evian. Despite having taken a couple of weeks off to rest, she could only managed an even par 72 in round one. Round 2 was an amazing one: after nearly exploding to a horrible score by going well over par in the first 8 holes, she regrouped and blistered the course on the back nine, ending up shooting a 5 under par 67 for the day. Afterwards, she did a stint as a guest commentator on the Golf Channel, and to her credit did not use her back problems as an excuse for her inconsistency. She sounded hopeful that she had turned things around, but only shot 72-75 on the weekend and wound up in a tie for 28th for the week

The worst thing about these finishes for the Korean players was that it allowed a lot of other players to make a great deal of ground up on them on the money list. Se Ri, Mi Hyun and Grace have all slipped somewhat on that list, although they are all still as of this writing in the top ten. On the other hand, those three players are still very popular in France, as evidenced by their appearance in the official TV ad for the tournament (the shot of Grace walking with a little backpack in slow motion was especially glamorous, while Mi Hyun's appearance consisted of a close-up of her turning her head slowly to look past the camera. Alas, Se Ri's moment showed her missing a putt, an omen of things to come perhaps...).

Grace at the Evian

Se Ri wore this groovy shirt during the
third round of the Women's British Open

Next came the Weetabix British Women's Open, the final Major of the year. This year they held it at historic Sunningdale outside London. Last time the event had been held there, Se Ri Pak surprised the world by coming out of nowhere to shoot a final round 66 and capture the crown. Mi Hyun Kim finished second, the first one-two in a Major by Korean players (but not the last! This year's Nabisco Championship had another one). Would the course bring back good memories for Se Ri?

In truth, it was a bounceback event for her. Considering the lows to which she had sunk the week before at Evian, her performance at the British Open was not half bad. She struggled somewhat to a one over par 73 in the first round, but was under par the remaining three rounds, shooting 70-69-69. Unfortunately, the conditions were absolutely perfect, particularly on the weekend, and while her 7 under par score would have under normal circumstances put her in the hunt, this time it left her in the dust. The winner wound up shooting a record 19 under par score, and Se Ri could only manage a 21st place finish (although she was just one shot out of a tie for 13th). This marks the first time in Se Ri's LPGA career that she has not managed a top ten at any of the four Majors in a calendar year. Even in her winless 2000 season, she had achieved two top tens (and two 15th place finishes).

The top Korean at Sunningdale was Jung Yeon Lee, who for awhile looked like she might be a contender. She started with a five under 67 that left her but a shot out of the lead after the first round. Although she continued to play solidly, and finished with a 10 under par total good for the only top ten achieved by a Korean during the week, she still only finished tied for 8th. Still, it was nice to see her game getting back to its levels of earlier in the season, and this marked her second top ten in a Major in 2004 (she finished T-8th at the Nabisco as well).

Jeong Jang also looked poised to contend, notching a 70-68 start her week. But she never made her move on the low scoring Saturday, and ended up in a tie for 23rd. Like Se Ri, Grace Park played solidly all week, but was never able to have that great round she would have needed to keep up with the leaders. She finished one shot ahead of Se Ri, in a tie for 13th with Annika Sorenstam and Hee-Won Han, among others. The biggest disappointment came from Mi Hyun Kim. Kimmie has played well all year, but she failed to make the cut at Sunningdale, whereas the last time she had played there, she had finished in solo second place, her best ever Major finish. It was the first time she had missed the cut since her previous British Open in 2003.

The Major season is over, but hopefully the Korean players are getting ready to return to their great form for the final stretch of the season.

Jung Yeon Lee was the top Korean finisher
at the final Major of 2004