2005 John Q. Hammons Hotel Classic

Positives:
Jeong Jang continued her string of great tournaments with her 11th top ten of the year. She was also the top Korean on this treacherous golf course, finishing with an even par score for the week. Mi Hyun Kim also showed signs of life. In the first round she shot a 69 to finish in 7th place. She had a reasonable shot to get into contention, but her second round 74 put an end to that. Still, she managed to finish strongly, grabbing a tie for 10th for her 7th top ten of the year. It's not been a great year for her, but it still looks like she could turn things around.

Speaking of turning things around, second year players Aree Song and Shi Hyun Ahn have both struggled much more this year than they did in the rookie years, where they finished 1-2 in the Rookie of the Year race. But both had good results in Tulsa, Shi Hyun grabbing a 10th place for just her third top ten of the year, and Aree finishing 21st.

Also managing a top 20 was Meena Lee, who unfortunately has been mathematically eliminated from winning the Rookie of the Year award. But give her credit: it's been quite a long time since a rookie did as well as she has in 2005 and did not win the ROY award. Indeed, she looks promising to finish in the top ten on the money list, which would make her the second strongest rookie in terms of money list finish since Se Ri Pak (unfortunately, the strongest since Se Ri will be the person who beat her in 2005, Paula Creamer).

Negatives:
Joo Mi Kim had a surprisingly terrible start to her week, carding an 80 on the first day, but recovered nicely with a 69 to squeak into Sunday. Hee-Won Han was not so lucky; she, too, shot an 80 on day one, only she was not able to make the cut. It was only Hee-Won's second missed cut of 2005 (her first came at the Women's British Open, another event where JJ finished top among the Korean players).

JJ at the British Open

Meena Lee at the Lordland Cup