2006 Women's World Cup

The Solheim Cup is one of the most popular events in women's golf. But for the last eight or so years, it has attracted a lot of conversation because it omits many of the top women golfers in the world. That event, you see, is between the US and Europe, and only golfers from those two areas can compete. Asians, Australians and Canadians, for instance, are permanently out of luck.

To address this problem, two new important events have been created in the last couple of years. One was the Lexus Cup, which pits Asia against the rest of the world. A bit lopsided, perhaps; the first staging of the event occurred last December (as discussed in the previous issue of this magazine), and it was somewhat of a rout. But with luck, they will tweak the format and make it a more fair battle in the future.

The other event is the Women's World Cup of Golf. This event started in 2005, and is contested every January in South Africa. Each eligible country sends two representatives, and they play three days of golf competition. On day one, the format is better ball; the better score among the two teammates is counted on each hole. The second day the format switches to alternate shot, as the two players take turns making shots. On day three, each player plays on her own, and both scores are added together into the team's tally.

If the Lexus Cup was a big loss by the Asian teams in 2005, the World Cup last year was a pretty big vindication of their talent. Japan won the event, touching out South Korea at the end (who tied the Philippines for second). Top teams like the US and Sweden struggled in comparison.

JJ and BB worked together to achieve a
second place finish in last year's World Cup

Bo Bae in the pro-am

Round one

This year, the event was again contested in South Africa, and South Korea once again sent a strong team: Bo Bae Song, returning from the 2005 team, was the KLPGA representative, owing to her Player of the Year finish last year on that tour, while Meena Lee replaced Jeong Jang as the LPGA rep (Jang would have been sent gain if she wanted to be, as the top player on the LPGA gets asked first, so presumably she was asked and declined. Lee was the next in line to get an invite). But several of the other teams sent more powerful teams than in 2005, so it looked to be an even tougher challenge in store for Korea in '06. Sweden sent Annika Sorenstam, the world's #1 player, who chose Liselotte Neumann as her partner. Neumann had ended 2005 with several top finishes on the LPGA tour, although no wins. The American team consisted of the #2 LPGA player Paula Creamer and #6 player Natalie Gulbis. And even Japan upgraded, replacing Rui Kitada with the stronger Sakura Yokomine, while keeping the superstar Ai Miyazato from their championship team of 2005.

The Koreans wasted little time in making their presence felt. By midway through the first day, the best ball day, they had climbed to 6 under par, thanks to a great chip and short putt by Bo Bae Song on the par 5 14th hole. Japan, meanwhile, was struggling mightily, and would end up amazingly tied for last by the end of the day. They would never right the ship during the week. Not surprisingly, the Koreans biggest competition at this early juncture was the Swedes, who were at 6 under, and the Americans, who were at 5 under par. Those were the three leaders.

On the 15th hole, both Meena Lee and Bo Bae hit good approaches, but both saw their balls bounce off the hard greens into the rough behind the hole. BB had the harder shot, but hit a masterful chip to inches to save par. On the next hole, a par 3, both hit great irons. Meena was twice as far as Bo Bae, so she putted first, then hit her par to show BB the rest of the line. BB, who had only five feet or so, easily made her birdie to move her team to 7 under and the outright lead.

On 17, it was Meena's turn to contribute. Bo Bae hit a bad approach and was in trouble; this hole had a lot of water surrounding most of the green. But Meena got on in two and left her birdie putt a roll short. She parred, and they also parred 18 to finish the day at 7 under. Sweden would also finish at 7 under, and thus the two teams sat tied for the lead with two days to go.

How good was the Korean teamwork on day one? How's this: they used Meena's ball 9 times as the official score and Bo Bae's ball 9 times. Bo Bae made three birdies and Meena four. Now that's teamwork!

On day 2, the Koreans were paired with the Swedes in the final group. They got out to a great start by birdieing the first two holes to move to 9 under par. They would birdie 4 as well to get to 10 under, a two shot lead at the time. But that was the height of their day, alas. They would bogey to fall to 9 under, then made a bogey on 12 while Sweden made a birdie, thus falling to -8 and one shot behind Sweden. However, Annika would miss a short par save on the 13th green, and Sweden would drop back into a tie for the lead at 8 under. At this point, the only team really close to them was Finland, who was having a great day. America was struggling, and only a few other teams were under par. It looked great for Korea to continue to contend.

The fun continued during round 2. This time, orange!

Meena in a bunker during round 2

The gals had more trouble Sunday.
Here BB anxiously watches a chip.

But that's not what happened. On the par 5 14th, Meena hit a decent 3rd shot 8 feet past the cup, but Bo Bae could not bag the birdie. Annika's approach, meanwhile, left them only about four feet away, and Neumann was able to make that birdie. So once again, Sweden held the lead.

On the 15th hole, the two ladies left the ball just short of the green, but BB almost chipped it in; tap in par. Sweden also made par to maintain their lead. On the par 3 16th, Lee hit a spectacular iron to about 4 feet, giving Bo Bae a great chance for birdie, but her putt lipped out 360 degrees and hung on the edge of the hole. Another par for both teams.

It was on 17 where Korea really hit the wall. Bo Bae left her drive in the rough, on a hole where you really need to be in the fairway to have a good chance at the flag. Meena hit a decent out, but the ball rolled off the back of the green. BB hit an OK shot from there, just four feet past, but Lee could not save the par. Meanwhile, Annika's approach got incredibly tight, giving Neumann an easy birdie. After both teams parred 18, the Koreans found themselves in a three shot hole to end the day, -7 to Sweden's -10. However, they were still in second place, and would once again play in the final group on Sunday.

On Sunday, the teams played a format where both players' scores would count towards the total. This format allowed for very quick leaderboard changes if both players could get hot (or struggled) at the same time. Neumann had a pretty bad day, shooting a 77, but Annika picked up the slack somewhat with a 70. Thus, they finished the tournament at 7 under, where the Koreans started. So all the Koreans needed to do was go one under par to give themselves the title.

But pretty much from the start of the day, both Korean ladies struggled. They hit it into the rough far more often than in the past two days, and their putting was very off. Thus, they plunged down the leaderboard. They were still in second at -3 halfway through the round, but four shots out of the lead. However, Scotland rallied to pass them, and Korea kept making mistakes. By the end of the day, both Song and Lee had shot well over par. Unfortunately, they remained in sync in bad play just as they had been in sync in good play the two previous days. In the end, South Korea wound up with a +2 total after a really terrible 9 over par day. Meena Lee shot a 5 over par 77, while Bo Bae shot a 4 over par 76. They were passed on the final day by Scotland, who finished second at 4 under, Wales, who finished third at Even par, and America, who ended up at +1.

But though the end result was not what they wanted, the Koreans still had managed a top five finish at this event for the second straight year. Although they had played much better in 2005, nearly winning it, the competition had been tougher in 2006. And you could argue that this team, lacking noted tough course specialist Jeong Jang, was not as primed to play in difficult conditions as the 2005 team had been. So all in all, a pretty good way to start the year. Here's hoping that Bo Bae and Meena enjoyed their time in South Africa despite the last day, and that the experience will help them pinpoint where they need to work on their games before the season start.

Even after a tough Sunday, the ladies still were able to smile