Volume 2, Number 21, November 3, 2004
 

CJ 9 Bridges Classic

 Pages 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, Gallery1, Gallery2, Gallery3, Gallery4, Results
Day one: The Event Starts

Finally all the preliminaries were over, and the event itself started. Among the interesting first day pairings were Se Ri Pak, Lorena Ochoa and Ju Mi Kim; and Grace Park, Annika Sorenstam and Shi Hyun Ahn.

All eyes were on Se Ri. Would she have a great event, a good one, or another disaster? It seemed almost anything was possible. Well, there was good news and bad news this day. The good news was that her driving and irons seemed pretty solid. She gave herself a fair number of birdie chances, and did not put herself in trouble. The bad news is that she was not making a thing with her putter. She ended up with a single bogey on the third hole and a single birdie on the 13th, and 16 pars. Not a terrible round, but one that left her in the middle of the pack in 32nd place. At least this was a typical Se Ri kind of round; she gave herself the birdie chances, but her putter let her down. If she could correct her putting issues in round 2, perhaps she could yet contend.

Se Ri Pak and Lorena Ochoa played together in round 1

Shi Hyun Ahn got off to a great start on Friday

 

Far more impressive this day was Ju Mi Kim. She started out solidly, making no mistakes, and cashed in birdies at the 6th, 9th and 10th holes to move to 3 under par. Another birdie at 15, and suddenly she was close to the lead! She did screw up with a bogey on 17, but rebounded with a birdie on 18 to end at 4 under par, only two shots out of the lead. Quite an accomplishment to outplay the Golf Queen in front of their home crowd. Perhaps it was now Kim's turn to be the Cinderella?

But the old Cinderella was not ready to give up her 'title' just yet. Shi Hyun Ahn was, to put it mildly, in a very intimidating pairing. And she didn't help matters by making a double bogey on her second hole. Now she found herself with the unenviable task of trying to play catch up to two of the best golfers in the game.

But catch up she did, and hole two was to be her only mistake of the day. Meanwhile, she added birdies on 6, 9, 11 and 17 to move to 2 under par. A healthy comeback, but one made extra sweet when she reached the par 5 18th. This hole doubtless had a lot of fond memories for her. Reaching this hole in 2003, she had a slim one shot lead over Se Ri Pak. Ahn knew she had to give it all she had to hold off the superstar, and she delivered with a brilliant second shot to the island green, followed by an eagle to win by three. Well, it was deja vu all over again, as Ahn again made an eagle to end her day at 4 under par. Best of all, as far as the press was concerned, this meant that Ahn and Ju Mi Kim would be paired in round 2. Which of the rivals would come out on top?
As impressive as Ahn was, though, one player clearly stood out on day one, and that was the player who had been making a habit of great first rounds the past month. That player was Grace Park. She had managed to take the lead in each of her last two events after round one, and she made it three for three with another great opener at the CJ. Grace is known in Korea as the Birdie Queen, because she twice led the LPGA in that statistic for the season. Well, she certainly showed that kind of form this day, as she immediately dunked a birdie on the first hole, then added more on 7, 9, 10, and 12 before a bogey on 13 sent her back to 4 under. Not to worry: she added two more birdies on 15 and 18 to end the day at 6 under, which ended up being enough to tie her for the lead with Carin Koch by day's end. No doubt about it: Grace was hungry for this win, and woe be to anyone who stood in her way.

One player who definitely did just that was Annika Sorenstam, who had taken advantage of Grace's poor final round at the Samsung to nab the trophy away from her there. But on this day, Annika shot a rather ordinary one under par 71, which left her five shots behind Grace. With only two rounds to go, Annika would have her work cut out for her if she were to contend.

It was a laugher for Grace on Friday
Day Two: Moving Day

The story lines to follow on day two were: Grace in the hunt for her second win, and a chance to end the 'second place curse'; Shi Hyun Ahn meets her KLPGA rival Ju Mi Kim; and Se Ri Pak tries again to right the ship.

First, Grace. Grace was certainly raring to go on Saturday, and fortunately for her, so was her caddie. Dave Brooker had been an integral part of Grace's success in the past few years, but when he got to Korea, he came down with a bout of enteritis. This forced him to miss the pro-am, but he willed himself out of bed in time for the actual event. Needless to say, he was not at 100%, and in fact had to use a pull cart for the first time in his career during Friday's round. By Saturday, fortunately, he was feeling better. Grace herself was not quite firing on all cylinders, however. In fact, she was playing solidly, but not making much headway, until she finally made her first birdie on the par 3 7th hole. Unfortunately, she followed that immediately with a bogey, but then added another birdie on 9 to go out in one under par. On the back, she played better, adding two more birdies for a 3 under par 69. It was not as impressive as Thursday, but it still was good enough for her to maintain a share of the lead, this time with Kate Golden, who shot an 8 under par 64 to vault to 9 under herself. Just like at the Samsung, Grace would enter the final round with the lead and a chance to win it all. But at the Samsung, she lost despite having the lead. Would it be enough here?

Grace maintained a share of the lead after her
second round

Ju Mi Kim had an awful day Saturday.
Can you tell?

It was a good day for Soo Yun Kang, too

Meanwhile, the two 20 year old rivals went head to head elsewhere on the course. It would be great to report that Ju Mi Kim rose to the challenge, but in fact she had a fairly awful round, and what's worse, it was bad right from the start. The low point came early: a triple bogey 8 on the par 5 3rd hole that blew her down the leaderboard, followed by a bogey on the next hole. Just like that, she had lost four shots to the field. She rallied with birdies on 6 and 9, but followed them with bogeys on 10, 14, 15 and 16. She also had birdies on the two back nine par 5's, but even with them, she wound up shooting a four over par 76. Though she would rally to a decent finish with a third round 68 to match the one she had had on Friday, she would only finish tied for 21st. This Cinderella's dream was over, at least for another year.

Shi Hyun, meanwhile, was hardly brightening the course with birdies, either. In fact, she had a bogey-double bogey on the 3rd and fourth holes, the same holes that had killed Kim. But Ahn showed that she had learned something in her Rookie of the Year stint on the LPGA in 2004. She rallied big time with birdies on 8, 9 and 10, then added three more birdies on 14, 15, and 18. Instead of finishing over par, she shot a 3 under 69 that left her at 7 under par, only two shots out of the lead. A defense of her title was still within her reach, but she'd have to beat her good friend and mentor Grace Park to do it.

And she'd have to beat another good friend and mentor as well, for Soo Yun Kang, after a slow start, caught fire on Saturday and moved into contention. Kang had already won an event in Korea just a few weeks earlier, the PAVV Invitational on the KLPGA tour. She then had a top ten in another KLPGA event the next week. Clearly, the former KLPGA Player of the Year liked playing in Korea. Kangsy played Saturday in an efficient, clean way, with three birdies on holes 6 through 8, and three more birdies on holes 12 through 14. Her 6 under par 66 was one of the best scores of the day, and left her at 7 under par as well. She would be paired with Grace in the last group on Sunday.
While this was going on, Se Ri Pak had already finished her round. Half the field left off the tenth tee, and Se Ri was in the very first group to do so in the morning. At first, her play was much like it had been on Friday: she was hitting her greens and giving herself birdie chances, but not making them. But then she birdied the 15th, and followed that up with two more birdies on 17 and 18. Just like that, she had moved to 3 under par. Se Ri continued the blistering pace on the back nine with three more birdies to finish her round, on 6, 8 and 9. But perhaps the most impressive thing about her round was this: not a single bogey. In fact, through two complete rounds, she had only one bogey compared to seven birdies. Her 6 under par 66 was the best round she had had in months, probably since the Farr in August. It was not only one of the best rounds of the day, it moved her to within three shots of the lead. She would be in the second to last group with Shi Hyun Ahn on Sunday. For the first time in ages, Se Ri had a shot to win a golf tournament, and she was positioned perfectly to do it, three shots behind the leader. No one loves coming from behind to win a tournament more than Se Ri Pak, and she had won from three back already multiple times. Grace definitely could not relax (and she had even more to worry about, since Annika shot a 5 under par round to move herself to 6 under par as well).

One other Korean player put herself in the hunt: Jeong Jang. Jang has been having an excellent year this season, and she continued that trend with yet another good two rounds. Her 4 under 68 moved her to 6 under par as well. She would be playing in the third to last group with Sorenstam on Sunday. Would she have a chance to grab her first tour win?

Se Ri had her best round in months on Saturday.
Way to go, girl!
Next Page