Battle of the Stars

The fun out of the way, the serious business of the tournament itself began. On Thursday the 13th, there was a practice day, and Se Ri was, as usual, extensively covered by the Korean media as she played her practice round. Even when practicing, she attracted a sizeable gallery of fans. Afterwards, she posed for photos with a few of her KLPGA compatriots, who were thrilled to pose with the nearly legendary superstar.

Grace Park and Shi Hyun Ahn also got their try at the course, and they, too, attracted a nice gallery to watch them prepare.

Se Ri practices on Thursday

Grace in round 1

Finally, the three day event started on Friday the 14th. Se Ri was paired with the top two players on the KLPGA tour for the first round, including last year's KLPGA Player of the Year (who is profiled elsewhere on this site!) Ju Mi Kim. Grace was paired with Shi Hyun. Both groups attracted massive galleries, despite the rainy conditions.

Se Ri did not have the best round of her career, but it was not a bad effort. She had a bogey and a birdie on the front nine, but managed three birdies and a bogey on the back to finish at 2 under par 70, good for fifth place overall. She found it tough to figure out the conditions, and was a tad frustrated. “I heard it rained a lot. I couldn’t figure out the conditions of the fairway,” she remarked. She was also suffering from a bad case of jet lag which had apparently given her a bad pain in her eye. Se Ri is not usually one to make excuses, and it's not like she played that badly, so she must have really been suffering to even mention it. Nonetheless, she was in good shape for the weekend.

Shi Hyun Ahn did not do so well. She finished the day at even par, tied for 17th place. But her playing partner, Grace Park, had a very eventful day. The highlight was doubtless on the 12th hole, where she fired her approach shot from the fairway right into the cup for an eagle 2. It ended up taking five minutes to fix the damage her powerful shot had caused the hole. Grace had two more birdies, and stood tied for the lead when she made an unfortunate bogey on the final hole, a par 5, to fall to 69.

The surprise leader after day one was unknown amateur Seo Jae Lee, a 16 year old high school girl. Another amateur in the field, Hee Young Park, also did well, shooting a 3 under 69 to finish tied for second with Grace.

Grace and Shi Hyun played together in round 1
(Click to enlarge)