2005 US Women's Open

Meanwhile, the leader in the clubhouse was currently Lorie Kane at 6 over par. But several players were approaching 18 that had a chance to beat that. The first of these was Natalie Gulbis, the American pin-up queen who had elevated her game markedly in 2005. Gulbis sat at 5 over when she reached the 18th tee, but her approach ended up in the greenside bunker, and she could not get up and down. The clubhouse lead remained at 6 over.

Birdie missed the fairway on 10, then hit her approach into the bunker. She could not get up and down; sand play had always been one of her weaknesses. Doubtless she was hoping she wouldn't end up in too many more bunkers during the round! Eventually she bogied this hole, and fell to 3 over, back into a tie with Pressel.

When Pressel played 10 a few moments later, she managed to save par thanks to a very long par putt. She was hanging in there, and looked confident. But Birdie hadn't gotten to this point in the event because she was a quitter. She promptly birdied the par 5 11th to once again regain the solo lead. Which she maintained when Pressel failed to birdie it a few minutes later.

Now another player was on 18 who could take the clubhouse lead. It was yet another amateur, 19 year old Brittany Lang, who stood at 4 over par. But like Gulbis, she put her approach into the greenside bunker and was not able to get up and down. Still, she established the new clubhouse lead at 5 over, and now had merely to wait to see if Pressel or Kim could top it. It would be a loooooong wait.

Birdie on Sunday

Somehow, Birdie got her ball away from the
OB fence on 14

Birdie hit the green on the par 3 12th, but could not make the 20 foot birdie putt and settled for par. But on 13, she again got into trouble with a less than great drive. She was forced to lay up out of the nasty rough, but then hit a fantastic pitch over water to within a few feet of the hole. Not only was this a close shot, but it was in the perfect spot to putt from, and she easily made par to maintain her lead. Birdie Fighting!

Pressel hung in there with a par on 12. But on 13, she made bogey, and suddenly, briefly, Birdie had a two shot lead. But on 14, a long par 4, Birdie hit another rotten drive, and this time, her ball was heading towards an out of bounds fence. Luckily, it stayed in bounds (much to her visible relief), but her swing was severely hampered by the fence, and she could not take a free drop. It would have been very easy to muff the shot and leave it in the rough from there. But again, the imagination that Nixon had talked about came into play. Slightly altering her swing to be more inside than usual, she punched the ball perfectly into the fairway. Her approach was a bit short, though, and she could not save par. So she fell to 3 over again, just one shot ahead of Pressel. Still, this hole could have been a disaster, and escaping with a bogey must have given her some relief.

She would par the par 3 15th next. Her tee shot landed short of the green, but she hit a nice chip and that was that. When Pressel hit that hole, she flew the green, then her chip rolled all the way off the other side of the green. But she hit another putt from the fringe for another long par save, keeping the pressure on Birdie. Who would break first?

Birdie once again missed the fairway on 16, and once again made bogey. So she fell back to 4 over par, into a tie for the lead with Pressel. When Morgan reached that green in two shots, she left herself a 20 foot birdie putt, a great chance to retake the outright lead. Her putt was right on line, too, but this time she wasn't able to make a long putt, and had to settle for a tap-in par. They remained tied with two holes to go.

Neither player was able to birdie the par 5 17th, though they both came close. So, as everyone suspected it would, it all came down to the hardest hole on the course. Anything worse than par was not an option, but par was certainly not a given.

Birdie hit her second great drive in a row on this hole (thankfully!), leaving herself a decent lie in the fairway. But she hit her approach right, into the same bunker that had gobbled up Gulbis' and Lang's balls earlier. Pressel hit her drive into the fairway, and sat and waited while Michelle and Birdie finished up on the green. Seeing Birdie's predicament, Pressel was thinking that if she made a par, it would be enough for the tie and maybe even the win.

Birdie makes another clutch shot

The magic shot

Exultation!

Victory!

In sports, there are always those clutch moments which can turn an athlete into a legend. Making the buzzer beater in game 7 of the NBA finals; making the final touchdown at the Super Bowl; hitting a home run to win the World Series. In golf, the equivalent would be to hit a tough bunker shot into the hole on the 72nd hole to win the biggest event in your sport. How often has that happened in history? Not very often. But what Birdie was about to do was even more amazing, when you consider that no one had managed a birdie on the 18th hole in two days (there had only been three on the hole all week); that she was not a particularly strong bunker player; that she had never been in a situation even remotely like this before; and that Pressel was breathing down her neck, waiting to snatch victory away from her at a moment's notice.

After watching Michelle hit a fairly good shot to within a few feet of the hole, Birdie climbed into the bunker, jumping up to see where the flag was (that's how deep the thing was). Remembering the path Michelle's ball took on the green, she took a practice swing, then struck the ball. It exited the bunker at a low trajectory, hit the green, and rolled. And rolled. Perfectly on line. The crowd got louder and louder as it looked like the impossible might happen.

And then it did. Birdie for birdie! Arguably the most clutch, brilliant shot in the history of Korean golfers on the LPGA had just been struck by a player that almost nobody had heard of before that day. Certainly few shots Koreans have been faced with had ever been that important, in terms of what they could mean if struck well. And just like that, Birdie had the lead, Lang was eliminated, and Pressel was almost beside herself with frustration. Pressel made a game try, but was not able to birdie the hole. The tough second year player from Korea had shocked the world and won the biggest event in the women's game in the most spectacular way imaginable.

There's an epilog to this, and it's a touching one. The entire state of Florida, home state of Morgan Pressel, was doubtless suffering after Birdie's shot. But one couple was jubilant. At the home of Birdie's coach, Bob Toski, he jumped up with utter joy when she made the shot, nearly giving himself a hernia when he tried to lift his TV in joy (he wisely instead hugged his wife). He called it his greatest moment as a coach. Later that night, Birdie called him to talk. She then told him to make room in his house, because she was going to send him the US Women's Open trophy to keep there. It was an amazing gesture that shows just how much Birdie appreciated what Toski, who had believed in her when even she didn't, had done for her. ``That's a helluva tribute.'' he said, when talking about it later.

So for all time, remember the name Birdie Kim, who made a birdie on the hole no one could birdie to win the greatest event in her sport. The player who played one of the toughest courses in history under par for the weekend (the only player in the field to do so; she beat everyone else by two shots on the weekend). It's the ultimate story of dedication, friendship, perseverance, skill, and maybe even destiny. And more, it's a story about the reason why we have sports competitions in the first place: to see dreams come true before our eyes.