Hee Wonderful

The Safeway Classic, which has taken place in Portland, Oregon for over 30 years, is the oldest event on the LPGA tour that is not a Major. But it always attracts Major-like fields, and in 2004, this was no different, with 49 of the top 50 players on tour showing up. The lone holdout, unfortunately, was Se Ri Pak. The Seoul Sister Supreme has fallen on hard times with her game in the last three months, and finally decided that it was time to take an extended break to regroup. It was probably a good idea; Columbia Edgewater Country Club, which hosts the Safeway, is not the kind of place you want to play if you can't keep your drives straight. The towering pines that surrounds most holes can give a player fits if her ball ends up among them.

Each year, ye olde editor travels to this event, which is only a few hours drive from his home, to cover the festivities in person, and this year was no different. On the following pages you will see many photos that were taken by me, exclusive to SeoulSisters.com. There's also some exclusive coverage awaiting you all, so let's not waste a minute more!

Last year, I managed to arrive in Portland only to have my car break down two blocks from my hotel room. I was fortunate this time not to run into that problem, although I did have the misfortune of being in a packed hotel, where I could not change my room, next to a group of people who insisted on partying, loudly, until late in the night. Luckily for me, the event was interesting enough that I was able to stay awake despite being more than a little drowsy.

Grace during the pro-am
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Young Kim's swing impressed her pro-am
partners
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Shi Hyun Ahn during the pro-am
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On the first couple of days, I attended the pro-ams. This is a good chance to see the players when they are a little more relaxed. I also like to see how the Korean players react with their amateur partners. Also, it gives you a good chance to see who is on her game and who needs a little work.

On Wednesday, I watched several players in action, including two whom I had never seen in person before, Young Kim and Shi Hyun Ahn. Young Kim looked sharp, I must say. Her Pro-am partners were amazed by how accurate her drives and irons were, and from what I saw, I had to agree. She looked primed for a good outing this week. They said her coach, who was following her around the course, told them she still had work to do on her short game, and that it was primarily that part of her game that was still holding her back. When she gets that up to speed, look out for her!

Then I followed Shi Hyun Ahn for a few holes. It was her 20th birthday, and the announcer said so when announcing her for her tee time. The people around the tenth tee sang a verse of Happy Birthday for her as well. Her amateur partners were amazed by her and called her 'Shi' throughout the round (I don't know if she told them to do that, or they just assumed that 'Shi' was her first name). I got the feeling she didn't feel very comfortable speaking English; she seemed very shy.

I then located Christina Kim and followed her around. As usual, she was having a good time with her partners. I saw her at one point having a very animated conversation with one of them; the word 'wicked' was all I overheard. One funny incident happened on the 18th hole. Christina Kim's amateurs on 18 all knocked their drives into the trees; they decided to try to get onto the green from there, even though it required them to hit their pitch shots over the giveaway car that was sitting there next to the scoreboard. Amazingly, every amateur carried the car, and it survived without a scratch.

Next I followed Mi Hyun Kim for a while. She was very into the pro-am, even cheering and clapping when an amateur made a tricky putt in her group. They were always asking her to help her read their putts, which she cheerfully did. But they didn't make too many of them anyway.

After her round, I saw Shi Hyun sneak up on Grace Park, who was talking to Christina Kim on the putting green, and grab her. Grace went after her, repeatedly poking Ahn until she started to laugh hysterically. Christina enjoyed watching from a safe distance. Clearly, these ladies are pretty tight with each other!

On Thursday, the weather was a bit on the cold side, and it rained for about twenty minutes at one point, but otherwise, it wasn't too bad. I was chiefly interested in checking out how Grace Park's game was doing this day, but her pro-am started at 7:30 in the morning, so I didn't catch up with her until her 10th hole. I then followed her group for the next nine holes. Her pro-am group ended up at 15 under, and won the pro-am that day, thanks largely to Grace's all around excellence. She was not missing a lot of greens, putting her irons in good spots, and putting it pretty well (when they needed her, which was not often; they had a few good putters in that group). One funny moment was when Grace made two consecutive birdies for the team, then strutted around the green boasting about it. As usual, she had a great time with her amateurs.

On 17, Grace saw me preparing to take a shot, and smiled and gave me the peace symbol. But this amateur walked in front of her just then, and even though she tried to bend around him so I could take the photo, it was too late. Well, you can imagine what it would have looked like, I'm sure!

I talked to Grace and her caddie, Dave Brooker, a fair amount during those nine holes. Some of what we talked about is rehashed in the Fairways and Greens section in this issue. But his general comment was that Grace was getting back to her top level again, and her confidence was starting to return after her injury problems. Judging by the way she played during the tournament, I'd say he was spot on in that assessment!

I later followed Jung Yeon Lee and Soo Yun Kang, both of whom got along well with their groups. Lee helped line up putts and was excited when they made them. Kang was even more into it. She got down on her hands and knees to help line up putts. With one guy who was pulling his putts, she would go off to the side to do the reading, implying that she was assuming his putt would pull in that direction. He clearly loved the ribbing. The whole time she had a big smile on her face, and when they would actually make a putt, she would exclaim 'Yeah!' and high five them. So let's shut people up once and for all who say that the Asian players don't participate in their pro-ams. Here are two more great counter examples.

My favorite memory of following Kang was how the amateurs would always say, when they failed to make a putt, 'don't worry, Soo will make it'. They were usually correct! Kang is another player who has underperformed so far on the LPGA given her obvious talent. I would be even more impressed with her game when I watched her on Friday, during the actual event.

Grace's swing was in top form this week
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Mi Hyun claps for her pro-am partners
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Jung Yeon during the pro-am
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The event started Friday morning. The conditions were less than ideal: cold and a bit windy, with periodic rain putting a literal damper on things. As well, it was unusually dark, owing to all the clouds: I had trouble reading my watch at times.

In the morning session, I followed Soo Yun Kang, Jung Yeon Lee and Betsy King, who were paired together. It was a good choice, as the two Koreans played quite well. Kang struck first; after a short drive on the third hole, she striped a 7 wood from way back to within 3 feet of the hole for an easy birdie. Very impressive. She followed that up on the par 5 5th by hitting her third shot, a wedge, to about 2 feet for another easy one. Then on six, she did it again: another incredibly accurate iron, another easy birdie. Just like that, she was at 3 under par and tied for 4th.

Until this time, Lee had not been doing too much, but she hit her stride when they reached the par 5 7th. Kang had chipped her third to two feet but lipped out the birdie and had to settle for par. But Lee gave herself a 15 foot eagle try, which she just missed, taking instead a tap-in birdie. On the tricky, water surrounded par 3 8th, Lee hit a fantastic iron to two feet for another birdie, while Kang missed a short par. Thus, they were now both tied at 2 under par, good for a tie for 8th at the moment.

But Kangsy was not done with her great irons. On the par 5 10th, she shot a wedge up to within 3 feet of the hole for another easy birdie. She had another decent iron on 11, but no birdie this time. It sure was fun to watch!

The biggest mistake either made in the early going was on 12, where Soo Yun hit her second shot into the trees on the left, then hit a worm burner that barely went 50 yards for her third. She eventually got bogey on this par 5, despite a great wedge that put her close for her par save. But she rebounded with a birdie on the par 3 13th from 20 feet (Lee also made birdie there from a slightly closer distance). Then Kang hit an iron to within 3 feet on 14 for another birdie, but missed a birdie from 8 feet on 15. Yawn, those close irons get boring after awhile!

At this point, both ladies had moved to 4 under and were tied for 4th. But the last few holes were a struggle for them, and it was fortunate they got into the house without doing too much damage to themselves. On 17, Kang hit her drive into the right trees, and trying to fly them with her second just caused her to hit the tree and bounce back to the right. I helped her out by lowering the ropes for her, and her third shot got to 40 feet from the flag. On her par putt, she came within one roll of saving par. She finished the day at 3 under, a great start. Lee was not so lucky: she bogied the par 3 16th after missing the green, but it was on 18 where she hit her waterloo. She hit her drive to the left, and could not find her ball in the trees. She kept looking up as though her ball were still stuck up in one of the towering pines. Exacerbating things was the fact that there were about 100 range balls on the ground in that area, the 18th being next to the practice range. After awhile, she slogged back to the tee and hit again. Her second drive was a good one, and her approach landed two feet from the flag for an easy bogey. So she finished the day at 2 under, but it could have been much worse.

Afterwards, Soo Yun called out to me and tossed me her ball, probably as a reward for helping her with the ropes. Very cool! And even though the rest of the tournament did not go as well for her, I have a feeling she will be up there before too much longer. Irons like that don't lie!

Soo Yun putts during round 1. She shot a
solid 3 under for the day