Oops! She Did It Again!

One of the toughest things to do in golf is to follow up a great round with a solid one. Grace was so confident, that she asked herself, why can't I do that? Why should one round affect the way I play the next day? But after 7 holes on Friday, she had only a single bogey and single birdie on her card. She would make a birdie on hole 9 to finish her front nine in one under par, good enough to maintain her lead by a single shot. Players elsewhere in the field were still going low, and Grace knew she would need to pick up the pace to maintain her lead.

And pick it up she did. On the same hole where she kicked it up a notch on Thursday, the par 5 12th, Grace started another run on this day. She was not able to get her ball on the green in two, but hit a solid chip shot to 6 feet, and rattled the birdie in to move to 13 under. She followed that with a gorgeous iron on the par 3 13th to four feet for another birdie, then dunked a 12 footer on 14 for a third in a row. Just like that, she was at five under for the day, and had a four shot lead. What would happen next?

Helping her even more was the fact that Annika Sorenstam bogied the last hole, her first bogey of the day. But though Grace gave herself several more good chances, she was not able to make another birdie. Still, she was playing so well that things looked like they would go swimmingly the rest of the round.

Grace picked right up where she left off with
another great round on Friday

Grace waves to fans on Friday

Shi Hyun shot a scintillating 65 on Friday

Then she got to 18. One of the narrower fairways on the course, it was imperative not to miss by too much, because there was not only desert everywhere, but hilly desert. Sure enough, she did miss the fairway right, and her ball ended up in a most precarious position. It was just in the sand, next to the lip of the fairway grass. Behind her was a cactus. If the swing was not executed just right, the ball could richochet off the lip and end up who knows where, or the club could get caught up in the cactus. Fortunately, Grace made a great swing and got the ball onto the green, albeit a mile from the hole. Nonetheless, she made the two putt from there, and finished the day with an impressive four shot lead.

Among those tied for second was recently anointed Rookie of the Year Shi Hyun Ahn. Ahn tied for low round of the day with a 7 under par 65. Thus, the two good friends would be in the last group on Saturday. Grace was halfway to her second win on tour, but there were several strong players lurking, including Sorenstam, Lorena Ochoa and Cristie Kerr. She wasn't halfway into the house yet.

It must have been a trip for Shi Hyun to be in the final group on Saturday, but unfortunately, she had huge problems with her game right from the get go. Her driving and irons just weren't that sharp, but she hung on to shoot only 2 over par on the front nine. This dropped her well back on the leaderboard, for though the conditions were harder than previously, and the pin positions trickier, players were still managing decent scores on the course. Shi Hyun added another bogey on the par 5 12th, and was not able to make any birdies thereafter to right the ship. She sat at 8 under and looked out of it.

Meanwhile, things were not going all that much better for Grace. She was only able to make a single birdie on the front nine, and neutralized that with a bogey. In the group ahead of her, meanwhile, Cristie Kerr had really made a move and actually caught Grace at 15 under. And Sorenstam was still lurking there just a few shots back.

Fortunately, Grace then hit her favorite part of the course, and once again, it paid dividends. She hit a short iron to 12 feet on 11 and made birdie there, then just left her approach on the par 5 12th short. The flag was tucked behind the bunker, but this proved no problem for Grace, as she hit a stunning pitch over the bunker to within inches of the hole for an easy birdie. Just like that, she was at 17 under. Simultaneously, Kerr started to backslide ferociously. In just a few holes, Grace's lead was back up to four.

And that's where it stayed until she reached the 18th hole. On Friday she had put herself in trouble off this tee, so she was doubtless wary of the drive. Nonetheless, she hit driver again, and once again she missed the fairway. Likewise Shi Hyun. But this time, the situation was far more dire. In fact, it took several minutes to find Ahn's ball, wedged into a bush and essentially unplayable. By the time she was done with the hole, she had scored a triple bogey 7 and knocked herself out of the event for good with a third round 78.

Grace's ball, meanwhile, had simply disappeared. Dozens of fans scoured the desert looking for it, but no one had seen where it had gone. If they could not find it in five minutes, she would have to return to the tee and play again, a potential disaster. But luck was on Grace's side, and a fan did locate the ball just in time. Like Ahn's ball, it was unplayable, and she had to take a penalty stroke to extricate it from a bush. But unlike Ahn, she was able to get away from the hole with only a bogey. So she went into the final day with a three shot lead and her best chance yet to get a second win in 2004.

Keep in mind that, in her entire career from the time she first had picked up a club, Grace had only once ever lost an event when leading going into the final round. That loss came at the Wachovia Classic earlier in 2004. But she had also never had more than a one shot lead in an LPGA event going into the final round. Here she had three shots. True, Kerr and Sorenstam were the two players three shots back; but Grace was definitely in the driver's seat.

Grace during round 3

Grace had a few moments of worry on the last hole
Saturday; it took a legion of fans several
minutes to locate her ball

... Sunday was up and down for Grace

Sunday did not start well for her, however. She had a bogey on the second hole, followed that with a birdie, then really struggled on the fourth, winding up with a double bogey there. The players behind her were catching up, and at one point, Grace even lost the lead. But as had happened repeatedly all week, she regrouped and made amends. This time she notched two birdies on the 7th and 8th holes, and for good measure added two more on 11 and 12. She now sat at 17 under again, and once more had a four shot lead. Time was running out for her opponents, and if Grace played the back nine the way she had all week, the trophy was hers.

She made her next mistake on the par 3 13th, when she hit her iron right and was not able to save par. But she hit a good drive on the par 5 15th, and waited in the fairway while Annika played it. Sorenstam had reached the green in two, but put her second shot in the rough behind the green. A birdie looked assured, an eagle unlikely. But in a nerve rattling bit of bad luck for Grace, Sorenstam drained the eagle chip, and just like that, had moved into a tie with her. Grace could see the whole thing from the fairway, and doubtless was not warmed by the sight.

Nonetheless, Grace went for the green in two. She did not hit that great a shot, and left herself with a tricky third from behind the bunker. This shot she did not get close, and would up with par. A major lapse; if she had but made birdie here, she could have recaptured her momentum.

Currently, however, the momentum was Sorenstam's, and she made another birdie on 17 to move into the lead, while Grace made a par on 16. Suddenly, it was Grace who had to produce a little magic, and she still had the dreaded 18th hole looming. Unfortunately, it was at this point that she became unglued. She hit her approach on 17 left, and could not get up and down, making another bogey. Then she got to the green in regulation on 18, but three putt for yet another bogey. She finished the round one over par, the event at 15 under par. Another second place finish, but perhaps the most bitter second place finish of her career.

Nope, the ball didn't go in...

One can clearly see the difference between the way Grace reacted to Sorenstam's challenge and the way vintage Se Ri Pak would have reacted. Many a time was Se Ri caught by hard charging opponents after she had a final round lead, and almost every time, she was able to make the clutch shots at the end to defeat the challenge and take the trophy. Think specifically about the 2001 Farr, or the 2003 Chick-Fil-A, where Se Ri must have made five clutch shots in the last eight holes. Grace, by contrast, seems to play worse as the tournament gets tighter. At both the Wachovia and the Samsung, she made numerous mistakes at the end of the event to cough up the prize. At the Safeway, she was only one shot out of the lead in the last few holes, missed a short birdie on 15 and made a needless bogey on 17 to miss the playoff by one shot. The 2003 LPGA Championship, which Grace lost to Sorenstam in a playoff, also comes to mind; she not only lost the playoff with a terrible approach, she also missed several chances to avoid the playoff entirely coming down the stretch.

I don't mean to pile onto Grace, of course. She's a great player and continues to get better and better. I'm merely pointing out an unfortunate pattern that has led to this unique situation of her having now six second place finishes yet only a single win in 2004. No doubt as she continues to put herself in contention week after week, she will eventually get to the point where she will not make those mistakes in crunch time. She has also never won an event coming from behind (Se Ri has done it ten times), but again, as she continues to excel, those wins will come soon. Some day soon, perhaps even this year, she will manage a multi-win season, and will overcome these issues like she has overcome every other challenge she has faced. She is such a super talent that we cannot doubt it will be.