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2004 Awards
Best Approach Shot of the Year:
18th Hole, Sunday (twice!), Hee-Won Han, Safeway Classic. See below.
Clutch Performance of the Year:
Hee-Won Han, Safeway Classic
I could have given this one to Grace for her last minute putt at the Nabisco,
but I don't want to give that one event too many awards! And I have to
give credit to Hee-Won, whom I followed on Sunday, for playing a brilliant
and, most importantly, patient final round that day. Hee-Won put herself
into contention for the title early, but was not able to take that final
step to catch the leaders most of the day. Then she reached the 14th hole
and hit a terrible drive, followed by a weak rescue shot. At this point,
she looked like she might be out of it. Instead of panic, she hit a great
third shot and two putted for bogey, then proceeded to nail a wonderful
iron close on 15 to make a birdie to get right back into things.
She would need more patience, however. On 16, just one shot out of the
lead, her birdie putt from the fringe just missed the hole. On 17, one
of the hardest holes they play all year, she put her iron within 4 feet
of the hole, then watched in horror as her seemingly perfect birdie putt
lipped out. She reached the final hole needing the birdie, and she delivered,
with a perfect drive and a superlative iron to five feet. Moments later,
she made that putt and was tied for the lead. Now she had to patiently
wait to see if anyone would surpass her, but 45 minutes later, she found
herself in a playoff with Lorie Kane. Once again playing the 18th hole,
she rose to the occasion, with another perfect drive and an even better
approach than the one she had hit an hour earlier. She waited yet again
while Kane made par, then calmly dunked the four footer for birdie and
the win, her first as a married woman. She certainly deserved it!
Hee Won Han, you've just won the 2004 Safeway Classic!
Christina shows off a jaunty 'hunting cap'
during this year's ADT Tour Championship
Trendsetters of the Year:
Se Ri Pak, Soo Yun Kang and Grace Park are perennially among the top fashion
plates on the LPGA tour, and all three were recognized as such this year.
Grace was voted the most fashionable player on tour in a poll on the LPGA's
site, while Se Ri was featured in a spread on their site highlighting
her many looks and talking about how many people have inquired about where
to buy her clothes. Soo Yun, meanwhile, was invited to appear at a fashion
award show in Korea following the season, and looked, as usual, dynamite.
But this year, two other players started actual fashion trends in South
Korea, and thus win the award for trendsetters of the year from Seoul
Sisters Magazine. In Korea, Christina Kim was a controversial figure,
but her berets made quite a fashion statement there. Dubbed 'hunting caps'
in Korea, they flew off the shelves following Christina's win at the Longs
Drugs Challenge. Meanwhile, Shi Hyun Ahn's corduroy caps were also
quite popular there, and started their own fashion trend, as did her pink
clothing.
This was a toughie. With all due respect to Grace Park and her great performances at the Wendy's Challenge, the Beijing Skins Game and the (not so great) Albertson's Challenge, this one comes down to two choices. The award goes to Michelle Wie at the Sony Open, way back at the start of the year. She came within just a single shot of becoming the second woman to make a cut in a men's event in modern times (only, she's still a girl, so it's in some ways even more amazing). I was going to dock Michelle a few points because she was given a free exemption into the event only after the governor of Hawaii strong-armed the PGA into doing it, and because this is a course where she has played umpteen times. And because Michelle still really has no pressure to perform on her yet; anything she achieves is considered a great performance (though what she did was in fact undeniably great). But despite all that, you can't deny her historic finish and the impact it had on her standing as far as the press were concerned.
Honorable mention: Se Ri Pak, for her participation in the Tiger Skins Game. This was the first time that Tiger Woods had played in Korea, and the media coverage of this otherwise silly season event was intense. Se Ri was getting more than her share of it, and though the pressure was not on her like it had been the last time she had played against men, at the 2003 SBS Open, she was also not playing anywhere near her best this time around. Still, she rose to the occasion, and put together some thrilling moments against a field of top PGA players Tiger Woods, Colin Montgomerie and KJ Choi. Though she was not able to win any skins, it was a pretty exciting performance she put together, and for heartsick Se Ri fans looking for anything positive about the latter half of her 2004 season, it was a rare ray of sunshine.
Best Hot Streak:
Grace Park, September - November
Grace Park had a pretty wonderful season all around, really, except for
a nagging back injury that severely impacted her during the summer and
caused her to drop out of two tournaments. But the back got better as
Fall approached, and suddenly, Grace started to sizzle. After having to
drop out of the John Q. Hammons Classic because of her back in September,
she returned the next week and appeared in Portland at the Safeway Classic.
There, she played three great rounds of golf, and with only two holes
to go, was but a single shot out of the lead. Alas, on the treacherous
17th hole, she hit a lackluster approach and made bogey. She would go
on to make birdie on 18 and finish in third place, one shot out of the
playoff. She next appeared at the Asahi Ryokuken, where she put herself
into contention with a Sunday charge. But surprising Lotta Neumann, who
had not won an event in years, managed to hold on for the win, and Grace
finished second.
But Grace was hardly done. At the very next event, the Samsung World Championship
of Women's Golf, she seized control of the event right from the start,
and with just a few holes left, had a three shot lead. It looked almost
certain she would win, but just then she started to make mistakes, and
Annika Sorenstam crept in for the win. Grace finished second yet again.
On to China, where Grace got revenge by beating Annika Sorenstam's team
in a Skins Game in Beijing. Then she flew to Korea, where once again she
seized control of an event, this time the CJ 9 Bridges Classic. But unlike
at the Samsung, she did not blow it in the last few holes, and won a commanding
five shot win, her biggest ever LPGA victory. The following week in Japan,
she notched yet another second place finish.
Grace was not done yet. She flew on to Las Vegas to participate in the
Wendy's 3 Tour Challenge, shot a 65 and helped her team win for only the
third time in the event's history. Finally, she straggled into Alabama
to play the Tournament of Champions, and squeaked out a first round 66
to again take the lead. But at that point she finally ran out of gas,
and played pretty much weak golf the rest of the year. Still, five straight
top threes, a win and two specialty event victories is nothing to sneeze
at!
Honorable Mentions:
Christina Kim had quite a hot streak of her own in September, culminating
in her win at the Longs Drugs Challenge. Hee-Won Han also had a
few great tournaments in a row around that time, and Jung Yeon Lee
started the year strong before fading.
Grace could do no wrong during the Fall.
Here she celebrates her first career hole-in-one
during the CJ 9 Bridges Pro-Am
Grace hoists her second trophy of the year
at the CJ 9 Bridges
Sunny Lee on the left, Sunny Oh on the right
Biggest Bummer of the Year:
Sunnys Oh and Lee fail to qualify for LPGA
Sunny Lee had been a strong player on the KLPGA tour. When she came here
in 2001, she looked poised to take the LPGA by storm with her mix of looks
and game. Alas, it never happened. She has struggled mightily since arriving,
and this year, for the first time, she failed to keep her card at Q-School.
Sunny Oh is a promising young player who turned pro last year. But so
far her pro career has been less than auspicious, and she, too, failed
to get a card at Q-School. Hopefully they will keep trying, though!
Mi Lee
Ju Mi Kim is the player who has the best overall record coming into 2005, but the Korean player to keep an eye on is Mee Lee. This player was known as Mi Na Lee in Korea, where, in 2002, she was hands down the best player on tour. Since then she has struggled, but she may very well be a dark horse waiting to recover and resurge. She has the talent and the will, but can she summon it and play well in 2005? We shall see!
