Takefuji Classic: It's Vegas, Baby!

The Takefuji Classic is an unusual event. It is sponsored by a Japanese company (obviously), and as such, they want it to play well for the folks back home. Thus, it is one of the few tournaments on the schedule that ends on a Saturday, because this is Sunday back in Japan, perfect for their viewing audience. It's also the only LPGA event that takes place in Las Vegas every year (unless you count the Wendy's Three Tour Challenge); Vegas can be a distraction to say the least, or it can be an inspiration (Se Ri Pak won a tournament once in Vegas the night after a good bit of luck in the casino).

The event is generally three days long, but the 2004 event threatened to spill over into a fourth day despite the needs of the Japanese audience. What happened was, Cristie Kerr put herself in the catbird seat, and looked for all the world like she would win easily. But then she started to make mistakes, and arrived at the final hole needing to make a short putt to collect the trophy. Wouldn't you know it, she missed that, too, and suddenly she was in a playoff with untested Korean tour rookie Seol-An Jeon. Could Seol-An capitalize on her good fortune and collect her first tour win?

Seol-An Jeon participated in a verrrry
long playoff at last year's Takefuji

In-Bee Park notched a top ten in the
2004 Takefuji

Well, she gave it her best shot, but she struggled with her irons. Fortunately for her, so did Kerr, and neither one was able to deal a decisive blow to the other. To be fair, though their long games were hurting, their short games more than made up for it, and they both made several impressively long putts to keep the playoff alive.

Eventually it ended the only way it possibly could have, with Jeon making a mess of the seventh playoff hole, and Kerr eking out a par to take the trophy. It may not have been pretty, but it was still a great showing by Jeon, who collected her first runner up check. And it also clocked in as the longest playoff in nearly thirty years on tour (not counting US Women's Opens, which have mandatory 18 hole playoffs).

Almost lost in the attention paid to the endless showdown was the fact that other players had done very well before the playoff even started. One of those players was 15 year old amateur In-Bee Park, playing her first LPGA event. Park had already won the US Girls Championship in 2003 and would darn near repeat in 2004 (she lost after being up five holes at one point in the final round). Despite her notoriety, however, she had not been offered many chances to prove herself in a professional tournament. When she got that chance in Vegas, she made the most of it. She was even in contention for a while on Sunday, but made a few key mistakes late to fade to eighth place. Still, a great showing for the first time she had ever played at that level.

In the interim, In-Bee moved to Las Vegas from Florida, apparently to work with coach Butch Harmon on improving her game. But despite her continued success at all levels of golf, she still found that there were no LPGA tournaments inviting her to compete, even with her coaches actively trying to get her those precious exemptions. (It's especially unfair considering how very many exemptions her fellow amateurs Paula Creamer and Michelle Wie were given). Still, she didn't let it get her down; she just kept working on her game.

Fortunately, the Takefuji folks were interested in inviting In-Bee back again for the 2005 edition, and she was not shy about saying she hoped to do better than she had in 2004, maybe even win. And darned if she didn't do as well as she said!

The player who made the waves early in the first round was one familiar to Seoul Sisters fans: Mi Hyun Kim. Kimmie had not been playing all that well in 2005 to date, but in her previous event, the Kraft Nabisco, she had changed that, shooting a great first round and three more solid rounds thereafter to snag a 5th place finish, her first top ten of the year. And her first round at the Takefuji continued that momentum. She started off the right way with an eagle on her very first hole, and kept the mojo going all day, eventually netting a 6 under par 66 that left her just a shot out of the lead by day's end. Kimmie would have another chance to collect that next win that had been eluding her since 2002.

Peanut put herself into contention early

In Bee hits out of the sand during round 2

But Peanut was not the only Korean to shoot a 66 on day one. In-Bee Park, now a local girl, thrilled the galleries with a 66 of her own. To be precise, it was a 7 birdie one bogey gem that left her in contention to win, just like in 2004. After her round, she admitted that she was aiming for just that: "I really believe (I can win)", she said. "I have nothing to lose, obviously. I just come out here and I'm having fun. I mean, I think the pressure is on them actually because I'm only 16, I have a long way to go."

Several other Koreans managed good performances after shaky starts to their years, including Aree Song, who managed her best score of the season with a 5 under par 67; Shi Hyun Ahn, who had been having a terrible season until the final round of the previous event, the Nabisco, and followed that with a 68 in her first round here; and Il Mi Chung, who shot her own 68 for one of her best scores since joining the LPGA.

On Friday, things did not begin as In-Bee had planned. In fact, in her first three holes, she made three bogies, all caused by missing short putts. That's the kind of thing that could crush anyone's spirits, but Park showed signs of the superstar she may soon become by refusing to wilt. Instead, she regrouped like a champion, and by the end of the day had climbed back to one under par for the day. That left her in a tie for 4th, just four shots out of the lead, but just one shot out of second place. She still had a chance to win this thing! Afterwards, her caddie, a PGA Professional who lived next door to the Parks back in Florida, marveled at how In-Bee did not let the situation affect her game. "I've been around and watched a lot of very good, first-class players, and I don't know of any of them who handled themselves better in a situation like that than she did," he said.

Unfortunately, Mi Hyun Kim was not able to make a move on this day to get herself into prime position for Saturday's action. She also shot a one under par 71, which consisted of two birdies and a bogey. Her putter let her down on this day, alas. Perhaps most painful was that she made her bogey on the final hole, a par 5 hole. Still, she, too, was only four shots out of the lead, and now had her best chance to collect a trophy in some time.

Peanut on Thursday