2005 Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic

The Jamie Farr tournament in Toledo, Ohio, is one of the mainstays on the LPGA tour. It takes place in either July or August each year, and like similar tournaments in Rochester and Corning, it's a big event in town that attracts a lot of attention. But ever since 1998, you could almost rename the tournament the Se Ri Pak Classic, because Se Ri has dominated it and been a major factor almost every year. She has won the event an incredible four times since 98, most recently in 2003. And even when she has not won, she has usually been right in the hunt. In 2000, despite having an off year, she was only one shot out of a playoff. Last year, mired in her worst slump to date, she still managed to finish second behind only Meg Mallon, who had to rally on the last few holes to beat her. So Se Ri fans were hopeful when she came here this year that she would be able to get somewhat back on track. So far in 2005, Se Ri has not managed even a top 20 performance. Her last top ten, in fact, came at this very event in 2004, although she had had a few 11th place finishes in the interim.

Alas, no magic was coming for Se Ri this year, and not even playing her favorite course on tour was enough to lift her from the quagmire. On the one hand, at least she didn't have any terrible rounds, something that's increasingly rare these days. Her first round was going along at par, not spectacular, but all right, when she hit a snag and bogied three of her final four holes (she birdied the other one). Her two over par 73 (this is a par 71 course) was one of her worst at this course. But in the second and third rounds, she managed even par rounds, and she even shot a 2 under par 69, only her second round in the 60s in 2005, in round 4. This was all good enough only for a 36th place finish, her worst since she missed the cut on a sponsor's exemption in 1997 as a 19 year old.

Se Ri checks out her ball for problems at
last year's Jamie Farr Classic

Birdie Kim was the best player
in round 1

But things went considerably better for a number of other Korean players. In fact, a whole bunch of them got into contention and had chances to win right until the end. In round one, the Korean who got off to the hottest start was none other than Birdie Kim. Proving that her US Women's Open win was not a fluke, Birdie shot her career best 18 hole score, a 6 under par 65, to take the lead after the first round. Birdie had even done pretty well at the Match Play Championship (her previous event), but had been beaten by Sophie Gustafson on the final hole despite shooting a respectable 4 under par 68. That's match play; sometimes you play well and still lose. Birdie got off to a horrible start in round 2 with three early bogies, but rallied back with three birdies and managed to shoot an even par round. She did that again in round 3, and was still in 6th place going into Sunday. Unfortunately, things fell apart for her after that, and she shot a 5 over par 76 to finish well back (29th). Still, there is every indication that Birdie will produce more good results as the year goes on.

Besides Birdie, several other 'usual suspects' produced good opening day rounds. Gloria Park, who has been a model of consistency most of the year, shot a 4 under par 67, and Jeong Jang, without a doubt the best player on tour without a win, opened with a 3 under par 68. Young Kim has put together one top 20 after another this year, and she also opened with a 68. Hee-Won Han and Sung Ah Yim opened with 2 under par scores to put themselves in the mix as well.

On Friday, it was veteran Beth Daniel who shot the best round of the day, matching Birdie's 65 from day one. This enabled her to take the overall lead at 7 under par. But the Korean ladies represented well. Hee-Won Han, who has finished well at this event in the past, including a second place finish to Se Ri in 2003, followed her 69 with a 4 under par 67, which moved her to 6 under and a tie with Birdie Kim for second place (Birdie shot the even par round on Friday, remember). JJ put together a 69 to move to 5 under, where she was tied with Gloria Park. So four Korean golfers now sat in the top ten, all within two shots of the lead. And just a little behind them were Mi Hyun Kim, who managed a 68 on day two to move to 2 under; Sung Ah Yim and Young-A Yang, both at 3 under; and Young Kim, also at 2 under. It was a veritable flood of Korean talent which now sat poised to potentially take the trophy. But who could position themselves for the end run on Sunday? Moving day would answer that question.

It wouldn't be Kimmie; although she shot another good round, a 2 under par 69, she would end up being just a little too far back to make a run. Birdie, as we mentioned before, shot another even par round and still had an outside chance of rallying for the win. Sung Ah Yim finished the day at 6 under par, while Gloria sat at 5 under after three rounds. All good results, but they were not the two players who best set themselves up for glory. No, the two in the best position after Saturday's round would be Jeong Jang and Hee-Won Han. Han, playing in the final group this day with Beth Daniel, put together a wonderful round. She started the day with three birdies in her first four holes, to move to 9 under par. At that point, she continued to hit good irons and drives, but her putting was just not happening. As a result, she put together 11 straight pars. While she was stuck in this little rut, however, her playing partner Daniel struggled. She made one early birdie, then a bogey later, but otherwise was not able to move off of 8 under. Thus, Hee-Won held the lead for the moment.

Birdie hung in with an even par
round Friday

On Saturday, Hee-Won moved
into the lead

JJ put herself into position to win her first
LPGA event on Saturday

But JJ was not going gently into that good night, either. She managed three birdies on the front nine to move to 8 under herself. Finally, after numerous pars, she made another birdie on 12 to move into a tie for the lead, then followed that up with another birdie on 13 from the fringe to take the outright lead at 10 under. Alas, that didn't last long, and on the next hole, she three putted from off the green to fall back to 9 under. Still, she was in a tie for the lead, and seemed to be firing on all cylinders.

But after 11 straight pars, Hee-Won finally got her putter back in gear on 16. She hit a marvelous 7 iron approach there to seven feet, than dunked the birdie to move to 10 under. After missing out on a birdie on the par 5 17th (the easiest hole on the course), she rebounded with a wedge to five feet on the par 5 18th for a final birdie. This one took a while, because while she waited, her playing partner Daniel made a complete hash of the hole. She hit into the greenside bunker, then skulled it out across the green into the rough. By the time she was done, she had double bogied and essentially had thrown the tournament away. But then Hee-Won sank the final birdie, moved to 11 under, and gave herself the lead by two shots going into Sunday. Her irons and driving looked strong, and she was in a great position to nab her fourth career win. JJ was in second place, and the two old rivals would play together in the final group on Sunday. Things were looking great for a Korean victory! But not so fast... This is golf, after all, where strange things can happen at any time!