2005 Wegman's Rochester LPGA

Highlights:

Jeong Jang notched her fifth top ten of the year by shooting a 66 in the final round. For a while, it looked like she could be going even lower than that, after making birdies on 9, 10, 11, 12, 14 and 16. But a late bogey on the par 5 17th short circuited her run. In the end, it didn't matter, since she was too far back to catch Lorena Ochoa, who played masterfully to bury Paula Creamer and claim her first title of 2005.

Se Ri Pak showed a few signs that she was emerging from her slump. She shot two solid rounds in tough conditions to start the event, and was actually in the top five going into the weekend. On Saturday, she had one of her horrible bogey train rounds going, but stopped it with three birdies to finish at 75. Although she ended up 35th following another 75 on Sunday, it was still encouraging that she could put together at least half a good tournament. And she was even interviewed by the people who host the Rochester web broadcast (would that all LPGA events had one of these). She said that she was feeling all right about her game, although she is still disappointed that she's having as much trouble as she is.

Kudos also to Mi Hyun Kim, who was 5th after two rounds, and hung in there for yet another top ten (this time a 10th place finish). And Gloria Park, who is fast becoming a consistent player after years of struggling. She finished tied for fifth.

Minny Yeo started the event with a 78, but rallied in tough conditions to shoot a 71 on Friday. It was not, alas, enough to allow her to make the cut; she missed it by one shot.

Se Ri in the rain during round 1

Se Ri during round 3

Lowlights:

Grace Park skipped the event (she usually attends), due probably to the back problems that have been plaguing her all year.

Shi Hyun Ahn continues to struggle; this week she finished 40th. And none of the Korean rookies were able to make any ground up on Creamer this week; it's looking more and more like Creamer will win the Rookie of the Year award with ease. Joo Mi Kim has not been able to follow up her promising Sybase performance, and here finished tied for 40th.

And once again, no Koreans really were in contention to win the event, although Jang had an outside chance if the chips had fallen the right way. As good as Kimmie is, it's very surprising that she has yet to contend for a title in 2005. Especially in Rochester, where she has enjoyed a lot of success in the past (she very nearly won a few years ago, losing on the final hole to Karrie Webb).