Highlights and Lowlights

Se Ri Needs her rest!
At the risk of sounding like a broken record, Se Ri's missed cut was not an eventuality that caught us here at SeoulSisters.com completely by surprise. She has a habit of playing less well in her fourth or fifth event in a row, and has also not done well in the past after her annual trip to Korea. In fact, in the last few years, the critical part of her season has always been that stretch from when she returns from Korea to mid-June. Last year, she got off to a great start, winning 2 of her first 8 events. Then she went to Korea, and when she got back had two of her worst Majors ever. She got her game turned around in July, and proceeded to get top 10s in 13 of the next 14 events. This year, her start has been less impressive, but the win at Kingsmill 2 weeks ago, coupled with three other top tens, was still good enough to put her in 4th place on the money list. But she was clearly worn out both in Korea and here, and her results showed it. Hopefully she will get the rest she needs to come out on fire just in time for the heavy Major season coming up just around the corner!

Young Ones Pass the Test
When Young-A Yang last made a top ten, it was at the 2003 LPGA Championship. There she carded her best ever LPGA finish, a tie for 6th. The player she was tied with? Young Kim, who also carded her best finish that week. I labeled them the Young Ones for obvious reasons. Well, this week we had Young-A Yang grab her second top ten of her career, and who should be playing well that same week? Yup, her fellow Young One, Young Kim. This time there was no tie, however. Young Kim got her first top five with her fifth place finish, while Young-A Yang finished tied for 7th. However, had she not been penalized two shots for slow play, she would have finished ahead of Young Kim in 5th place. Yang continues to surprise us, while Young Kim, who won two events in Korea last year to go along with her second place on the Rookie of the Year list, is a promising player just waiting to come into her own in America. Stay tuned!

Several Gals at their best
Congratulations to Jeong Jang, who managed one of the better finishes of the year for her this week, a tie for 11th. Perhaps most impressive was to watch the diminutive Jang consistently outdrive her playing partners in the final round. Her double ponytail look, resembling a Korean version of the Swiss Miss Heidi, also was a standout.

And speaking of fashion standouts, the Fashion Model of the Fairway herself, Soo Yun Kang, notched a good performance this week highlighted by a strong first round. Soo Yun is making a habit out of first round heroics; she led after one round at the Michelob Ultra two weeks ago, and this week was only one shot out of the lead after one. If she can just get to the point where she plays better on the weekend, we could see her start to collect some top tens. We know she has the ability, and she's a proven winner. Hopefully it's just a matter of time before she brings it all together.

Not Sure What to Suggest...
Meanwhile, Hee-Won Han finished a mediocre T-21st in defense of her first LPGA win. This is especially disappointing given the fact that she had been in the top two the last three years here, and had also been playing well the previous two events and seemed to be on the upswing. Anyway, last year Han really peaked in the early summer, and since this event was played in July in 2003, it coincided with her great play nicely. She's just a little worse on the money list right now than she was back then at this time, so who knows, her best may be yet to come!

Se Ri at the X-Canvas in Korea

Young Kim on Sunday

Jeong Jang on Sunday