Another Near Miss!

When Grace Park is on her game, she looks like a lock to win the trophy, no matter which event she is playing. Yet so far this year, she has only one win to her credit. When the LPGA got back to business at the Asahi Ryokuken Championship last week, Grace was determined to add another notch to her belt. Joining her in the field were several more top Koreans, including Mi Hyun Kim, who with 14 top tens coming into this week and no wins, has had in some ways an even more frustrating season than Grace, and Christina Kim, who had probably just finished celebrating her first win at the Longs Drugs Challenge just before her tee time on Thursday. But though those two ladies had tons of motivation, neither one of them made it through the week. In Christina's case, it was clear she had not yet recovered from the post-victory hangover, and after struggling through one and a half rounds, she dropped out. Kimmie also left early for undisclosed reasons. She would have to wait another week to try to get that first win since 2002.

Grace had a great time this year at the Asahi

Shi Hyun during the practice round

Soo Young Moon had a lot riding on this year's
Asahi Ryokuken

Two more Korean players had something riding on the outcome of this event. This was the final chance anyone would have to beat Shi Hyun Ahn for the Rookie of the Year award. At least, it seemed that way, but in actual fact, the result was already a foregone conclusion before the event started. Ahn already had so much of a lead over second place Aree Song, that even if Aree won and Shi Hyun missed the cut, Shi Hyun was still Rookie of the Year. Weird that no one at the LPGA noticed this and announced it. As it turned out, the two top rookies tied for 20th at this event, and Shi Hyun got her just due as 2004's top newcomer shortly thereafter. She has now become the fourth Korean in seven years to snag that award (and if not for a back injury, Grace might have gotten it in 2000 as well). And she just turned 20, making her the youngest Rookie of the Year in recent memory. Way to go!

A few weeks ago, when Christina won the Longs, she did it in style, by grabbing the course record and the lead in the first round, and never letting go. That was her fourth first round lead of the season; Grace had not managed the feat even once. Well, perhaps Grace took notice, for she certainly came out with a bang at the Asahi. After another typically brilliant Grace Park round, she found herself in a tie for the lead at 6 under par. And she made the final move to the top with a sweet birdie from above the hole on 18, a place from which no one had managed to sink a putt all day. No messing with Grace, no sir!

A couple of other players also managed great first rounds, chief among them Il Mi Chung. The Smile Queen has won multiple times in Korea, but her Rookie year on the LPGA has been anything but smooth. Though she had no chance of securing an exempt card short of winning, she persevered, and grabbed her best first round in some time, a 4 under par 68 to put her in a tie for 7th. Soo Young Moon, who was sitting on the bubble of maintaining her exempt status, shot a much needed 3 under par to get her week off to a bang up start. All sorts of intriguing storylines were developing, as you can see, in this final full field event of the 2004 season.

On Friday, Grace had a pretty bad round. While most everyone around her was shooting par or better, she stumbled mightily, eventually carding a 2 over par 74. This dropped her all the way to a tie for 10th, four shots out of the lead held by several players. But as anyone knows who follows golf, a four shot lead is not insurmountable, especially if one has two days left to surmount it. If she could get back on track, she could still get the trophy.

Meanwhile, another Korean player made a big move. That was Jeong Jang, and her story has been by and large ignored this year. But the 24 year old player is quietly having her best year on tour. Although she still hasn't come close to winning an event, she seems to be becoming quite adept at notching top tens. Her 5 under par 67 on Friday moved her to within two shots of the lead, into a tie for 4th. Soo Young Moon hung in there with a 71 that moved her into a tie for 10th. Moon has had one previous top ten earlier in the year; a top ten here would certainly clinch her card for 2005. But Il Mi Chung stumbled to a 3 over par 75. Though it dropped her to 32nd place, this was still quite enough for her to make the cut. It was possible she could nab her best finish yet on tour.

The scoring got better on Saturday, so that, if you wanted to maintain your position on the leader board, you probably needed to shoot one or two under par. Moon, however, was even par, which plunged her out of the top ten to 21st. Jang was actually one over, and that also dropped her back from 4th to 13th. And Chung really struggled, shooting a 5 over par 77 that knocked her well back in the field. Dreams of her first top ten on the LPGA tour would have to wait another year.

But Grace Park recovered nicely from the problems of the previous day, and played much the same kind of scintillating golf she had offered on Thursday. By the time she was done, she had shot a very solid 4 under par 68 that moved her back into a tie for 3rd. Unfortunately for her, two players who had not had much recent success were suddenly playing like women possessed. Liselotte Neumann shot her third round in the sixties to take the lead at 11 under par, three ahead of Grace, while Becky Morgan was in second at 10 under. Neumann had a good record on tour, but had not produced many good results in the past five years; her success here was really out of the blue. Morgan had played more consistently, but had never won on tour. Grace was definitely a threat to win if she could get it going on Sunday.

Grace lets 'er rip during round 1

Jeong Jang shot a great score on Friday

Grace charged hard on Sunday

Was it going to be enough to catch Neumann?

Nope!

But give Neumann credit, for as Sunday progressed, she did not falter. Grace was solid through the front nine, keeping in contact with the leader, but not able to put any serious pressure on her. Grace had never before won an LPGA tournament coming from behind, and it looked like it might not happen here, either. But keep in mind that Neumann had had very little success in the past few years; the pressure was bound to mount, and if Grace was in position to take advantage, she could swoop in and take the win.

Finally, on the par 5 12th, Grace hit a phenomenal approach shot with a 5 iron (which means her drive must have been something else, for this was a 475 yard hole) to 1 and a half feet for a tap in eagle. And just like that, she was within one shot of the lead. At last, she could start to squeeze Neumann. Liselotte made a birdie on 12 moments later, padding her lead to two. But Grace wasn't done. On 14, she hit a so so wedge to about 30 feet, but then dunked the cross country birdie to again move to within one. But Neumann also birdied 14, and once again the lead was two.

Grace had another shot on the par 5 16th, but was not able to get her 7 wood approach close enough to the hole to make a second eagle. Her birdie was again matched by Neumann, and Grace suddenly was running out of holes. Give Neumann all the credit; Grace was doing what she needed to do, but Neumann refused to buckle under. Where she was suddenly getting this burst of skill was unclear, because it had not been much in evidence in the last few years. But Grace knew she needed birdies, or else some help from Neumann, to win.

Perhaps this is the reason 17 went the way it did. Trying to give herself the birdie she needed, Grace instead hit her tee shot left, then left her gap wedge left of the green. She was not able to get up and down, and that was that. She would lose the tournament by three shots. Even if she had made the par, it would not have been enough. She was clearly disappointed with yet another second place finish. Still, it wasn't Sunday's 68 that cost her the trophy, it was Friday's 74. Given that rather poor round, her second place was actually a pretty impressive rally.

Speaking of rallies, the rally of the week award goes to Il Mi Chung, who recovered from her 77 on Saturday to shoot a very nice 68 on Sunday. It left her in 42nd place, one of her biggest paydays of the year. And Soo Young Moon may have fell apart on Sunday, shooting a 75, but she still made enough money with her 38th place finish to secure her exempt card for 2005. Sometimes a second place finish can be a disappointment, sometimes a 42nd place finish can be a real achievement. Golf is a strange game!