The Wrap

This is a relatively new event that takes place in Tulsa, Oklahoma. They moved to a new course this year, one that has hosted the US Women's Open in the past, and is reputed to be a very tough track (the year it hosted the Open, the winning score was 6 over par).

This year, the first round leader was none other than Christina Kim. Coming off a crushing one shot loss at the State Farm Classic, Christina would have been forgiven if she were not able to rise to the occasion again. Instead, all she did was come out and shoot the best round of the day, a 6 under par 65. Just one shot behind her was Rookie sensation Shi Hyun Ahn, and since this event was only three rounds, that meant it was quite likely those two ladies would still be around to contend come Sunday.

However, also shooting a five under was Annika Sorenstam, who had taken the previous month off and was well rested. And when Annika gets off to a good start, she almost always makes it real tough on the rest of the field.

Indeed, in the second round, Annika did pretty much what everyone was expecting, namely shoot another low round to move to 8 under par. This left her three shots ahead of anyone else, and with the title almost certainly hers. The lack of drama was unfortunately very real.

Shi Hyun and Christina, meanwhile, both played terribly, especially Christina, who shot a 4 over par round to plunge to 2 under and a tie for 6th. Shi Hyun didn't do much better, shooting her own 2 over par round to leave her five shots behind Annika with one round to play.

Christina took the early lead at the Hammons

Shi Hyun Ahn played well on Sunday, but
her putter gave her fits at times

On Sunday, things proceeded according to script. Annika didn't play all that well, and left a slight opening as a result, but no one else was able to seize the opportunity. Shi Hyun ended up shooting a 69; not bad. Indeed, good enough for second place. But nowhere near good enough to capture the win. Christina continued her plunge with another bad round, this time a 3 over par 74. But she still nabbed a 12th place finish to take home a nice paycheck. The one player who really cruised on Sunday among the Koreans was Mi Hyun Kim, who shot an impressive 4 under par 67. But she was too far behind to make the ground up, and so Annika easily won her fifth event of the year. Meanwhile, Koreans finished 2nd and fourth, and thus for the fifth event in a row, a Korean player finished second. Even more interesting is the fact that it has been a different player each week: Se Ri Pak, then Hee-Won Han, then Grace Park at the Wachovia, then Christina Kim at the State Farm, then Shi Hyun here. This was the first time in that stretch, though, that the second place finisher didn't have a great chance to win right til the end; this one was pretty much over half way through the Sunday round.