2005 Longs Drugs Challenge

On Saturday, Hee-Won Han continued her brilliant play of Friday with another low round with few mistakes. She had only one bogey compared to six birdies, and scored a 5 under par 66. It might have been even lower, but she missed a few makeable putts coming in. Meanwhile, Nicole Perrot and Liselotte Neumann both shot 7 under par rounds. Perrot now had a three shot lead over the field at 14 under, with Han and Neumann tied for second at 11 under. Alas, Han would not get into the final group on Sunday, meaning she had to apply pressure on Perrot from the group before her.

Christina Kim really struggle, unfortunately. Up until that point, she had kept herself in contention to defend her title, but on day 3 she completely came undone, shooting a 3 over par round that effectively ended her chances. Young Kim did nicely, shooting a 2 under 69, but it would leave her too far back to put pressure on Perrot. Shi Hyun Ahn was only able to shoot an even par round, so she, too, was at 5 under, nine shots out of the lead.

The one surprising Korean was Jimin Kang. Jimin had not done much since her win at the Corning Classic earlier in the year, but on this day she produced a 6 under par 65 to move to 6 under total and a tie for 13th. She had little chance of catching Perrot, but a top ten was certainly not out of the question.

Hee-Won was coming off a win the
previous week in Los Angeles

It didn't happen for Jimin, though, who on Sunday shot a 2 over par round and wound up in a tie for 22nd with, among others, Annika. With Sorenstam not a factor, several other Korean players took a shot at the top. Young Kim shot a 3 under par 68 and finished tied for 7th, and Shi Hyun Ahn had her best finish in some time when she shot a 4 under par 67 to finish at 9 under, tied for 5th. But Perrot was still the one everyone was hunting. Could anyone catch her?

On Sunday, Perrot showed the nerves you would expect of a player who had never before been in a position to win a tournament. She bogied her first hole by missing a short par save. She also bogied 3 and 5 to fall back to 11 under par. Hee-Won, alas, bogied 3, but then reeled off three straight birdies to move to 13 under par. Han had the lead! For the second week in a row, the field found itself chasing her. Could she pull off back to back wins?

Hee-Won on Sunday

(For those who are curious, only two Koreans have managed back to back wins on the LPGA - Se Ri Pak and Mi Hyun Kim. Hee-Won has had chances to do that before, but has not been able to get that second win, finishing second).

Han was not able to birdie the par 5 11th, and Perrot did, moving her to within one shot of Hee-Won. Meanwhile, her playing partner Liselotte Neuman began to struggle, falling to 10 under. It soon became a two person race for the title.

But Hee-Won was just not able to make a birdie. She gave herself ample chances, hitting pretty good irons and most of her greens, but nothing was falling for her. When she reached the par 5 15th, she knew she probably needed a birdie here to keep her lead. But her drive was uncharacteristically offline, and she was not able to hit her approach to the green from the rough, instead winding up in a bunker. Her third shot was not very good either, and she missed the shortish birdie putt by a hair. That was a huge mistake that would haunt her.

A few minutes later, Perrot reached the greenside bunker in two, but unlike Han, Perrot was able to hit her sand shot right next to the hole for an easy birdie to move into a tie with Hee-Won at 13 under.

Hee-Won next played the par 4 16th. The approach was tricky here, and few birdies had been achieved with the day's flag position. But Hee-Won hit a pretty good iron and gave herself a shot. Again, though, she missed. Now it was Perrot's turn, and her approach got her very close to the hole. When she sunk the birdie, she regained the lead and the momentum.

Hee-Won kept giving herself chances, but could not cash in. On 18, she had a lengthy birdie try, but nearly made it. But nearly was not good enough. She settled for par, and had to wait to see if Perrot could hold on.

Perrot put her approach on the green, and needed to just make par to win. Her first putt was not that great, though, leaving her with just a long enough putt to make it interesting. Hee-Won paced around, not quite able to watch. But Perrot made the putt and claimed the win, and for the second time, Hee-Won had to settle for a second place finish at the Longs Drugs Challenge.

Hee-Won could certainly console herself that she had had a great two weeks. Her win at the Office Depot and second at the Longs propelled her back into the top ten on the money list for the first time since early in the season. It came a little too late for her to qualify for the field of the Samsung World Championship, but hopefully her play would give her momentum going into the CJ 9 Bridges Classic, an event all Korean players would dearly love to win, as it takes place in their homeland. And after that comes the Japanese event, and Hee-Won, who speaks fluent Japanese and went to college there, doubtless was looking forward to her chance to do well there.

So, no Korean winner at the Longs, but with Hee-Won's second and two others in the top ten, it had proven once again to be a good event for the Seoul Sisters.

Hee-Won in round 4