2005 Safeway Classic

Hole 17. Soo-Yun put her drive into the woods on the right. Uh oh. This is a nightmarish hole, where it's really easy to post a big number if you're not careful. But she punched out nicely. Her third, a shortish pitch, was not so good, and she could not save the nearly impossible par putt. But she made bogey, which all things considered wasn't bad. Han had yet another near miss birdie putt. SY -12, HW -9

Hole 18: Soo-Yun put her drive into some rough stuff on the right, and all she could do was punch out her iron. Still, she got to the green (really, a great recovery), but it rolled off into the greenside bunker behind the green. OK, this was not easy; one false shot, and you're watching your ball roll all the way downhill. But Kangsy's touch was superb, and she made a featherlight bunker shot that drifted to a stop next to the hole for an easy save. Man, that was purty. Final score, 68. Hee-Won, however, three putted from a distance to finish at 8 under.

By the end of the day, Soo-Yun had established herself firmly at the top of the leaderboard and in control of the tournament. Her total was 12 under par. Tied for second were Jeong Jang and Gloria Park, both of whom matched Soo-Yun's 4 under par 68 on this day. So that meant that, for the second straight day, the final group was going to be an all Korean affair. But it was also one of the few times the final group on Sunday had ever been all Korean (the only other time I can remember was when Jung Yeon Lee, Grace Park and Aree Song were in the final group Sunday at the 2004 Nabisco Championship). As if that weren't astonishing enough, Aree Song and Hee-Won Han were tied for 4th at 8 under par, and Joo Mi Kim and Sung Ah Yim were tied for 6th at 7 under (with Karrie Webb also tied there). 6 of the top 7 golfers on the leaderboard were Korean. A truly unprecedented achievement for the fabulous Seoul Sisters. But could they hang on for one more round to produce something truly special?

And how would Soo-Yun sleep that night? Remember, although she had won multiple times internationally, she had never before won an LPGA tournament. In fact, it had been rather surprising that she hadn't won, given her track record. There would no doubt be a lot of pressure on her not to mess it up. But in her post round interviews, she seemed very confident, and predicted that she would have no trouble sleeping that night.

Hee-Won Han during round 2

Soo-Yun on Saturday

Soo-Yun and Gloria make light
conversation on the first tee Sunday
SeoulSisters.com Exclusive photo

Sunday, Day 3: Soo-Yun's Test
Like on Saturday, on Sunday the weather was cool and overcast at first, but before long, it heated up and all the clouds magically went away.

I briefly followed some of the early groups, then made my way back to the first tee to watch the top ranking Koreans tee off. First was Joo Mi Kim, Sung Ah Yim & Sherri Turner. Joo Mi had a nice red outfit on, and immediately when she got onto the tee, she went to the workers there and greeted them with a big smile on her face. I think they were taken aback by how friendly she was. When Turner got there, Joo Mi went right to her, did a little bow and introduced herself. It was the first time I've ever seen Turner crack a smile. Sung Ah seemed more standoffish. But she, too, seemed friendly enough with Turner.

Next came Han, Song and Webb. Hee-Won looked nervous to me. But she and Aree talked a little bit. While they were still on the tee, I noticed Kangsy in the gallery looking on. She couldn't wait to get on the tee!

Now the main event, the top three. Kangsy's outfit was something else. For the first of maybe ten times today, I heard someone comment about her BeanPole Golf logo prominently displayed on her back: 'Bean Pole, that fits her!' (as you can doubtless tell, she is a very slim young lady). She and Gloria Park shot the breeze a little bit while they waited. Then the action started!

Hole 1 was relatively uneventful; all pars. Hole 2 was more exciting. Kangsy's tee shot was down near the front of the green. Earlier, I had watched Webb make bogey from the fringe near there. It was maybe a 35 foot birdie putt, up a level and with break, and she nailed it! Woo Hoo! Major clutch putt there. We got to see another jumping fist pump, too. JJ and Gloria were much closer, but neither was able to make birdie.

Hole 3: Perhaps unnerved by Kang, Jang hit her drive into the right rough, where she had tree issues for her second shot. She got it to the front of the green, then hit a wonderful chip that nicked the flag and bounced out. If the flag had not been in, I think it would have fallen. Kang made a good run at birdie from about 12 feet, but settled for par.

At this point I saw Grace Park walk by on hole 13, which is next to the third fairway. Since she was so close, I said Hi to her, without really thinking, and she smiled and said hi back. She was already at one under, two under for the day, so clearly she was playing well and in a good mood. Grace would go on to shoot a magnificent 67 to climb all the way into the top 20. Her game seems to slowly be returning to form.

Hole 4: JJ murdered the ball on this hole; the longest drive I saw there all week, and 30 yards ahead of Kang and Park. All were in the fairway, and all had good birdie tries, Soo-Yun the closest. Hers was still about 10 feet past the hole I'd guess, but she drained it again. This time no fist pump, just a 'been there, done that' cool. Just like that, her lead was 5 shots. That had to have helped the nerves!

Kangsy got out to a great start Sunday

Gloria Park on Sunday

Hole 5: What a great drive by Kang here. This par 5 has a dogleg left around a lake. Kang shaped it perfectly right to left, and it rolled a ton when it landed. I thought she was going to go for the green, but laid up, as did the other two, who were well behind her. JJ hit her iron real close, maybe a foot and a half, and Soo-Yun was only about 3 - 4 feet away. Gloria ended up on the fringe about 12 feet away, and made par, while the other two ladies made birdie. Three birdies in her first five hole; Soo-Yun was not going to make it easy for her pursuers!

Hole 6: Gloria hit a bad drive here, but got a fortuitous bounce. The other two drives were perfecto. All three hit *marvelous* approaches. Kang's ended up five feet away, JJ's three, and Gloria's maybe a foot and change. JJ and Gloria made bird, but Kang just missed. At this point, the scores were: Kang -15, JJ -11, Gloria -10. They were still the top three on the leaderboard.

Hole 7: This is the most reachable par 5. Kang left her ball a bit short of the green in 2, but JJ got on only about 15 feet short of the flag. Gloria messed up her second, and had a 50 yard pitch for her third, but her shot landed and spun back away from the hole. She gave JJ a nice preview of her break, but JJ's eagle stopped just short. One foot birdie. Kang hit a great chip (she is great around the green), leaving her just a short birdie. Her lead remained four, and she was four under for the day already. Whew.

Hole 8: With the wind tricky, and the flag in the back right, this par 3 with a water carry was nasty today. There was a big backup here. I watched Joo Mi make a bogey putt from like eight feet (she got a big round of applause, and raised her putter in the air in thanks). Then Webb and Aree both sunk short birdie putts, while Han settled for par. Next, Jang hit her tee shot fairly close to the hole, maybe five feet. Kang hit next, but her iron landed in the center of the green and rolled off into a collection area. She was stuck with a tricky chip, but again played it beautifully to about a foot or so for an easy par. JJ had her chance now, but didn't cash it in. The lead was still four.

Hole 9: Kang's drive was all right, but rolled into the left rough. Her second shot came out low, and dribbled into deep rough left of the green. She hit a good chip from there, but could not make the short par save, her first miscue of the day. Meanwhile, JJ hit a great drive, a great approach, and dunked her birdie putt. Two shot swing. I couldn't help think about how she had squandered two shots on the 18th hole on Friday by missing two short putts from close. Would those be the difference in the event? If not for those, it would be a tie at the top, and how would that have affected Kang and Jang's attitudes? As it was, though, the scores stood at Kang -15, JJ -13, Gloria -10

They waited a long time on the 8th tee and the 9th tee, but fortunately by the time they got to 10, things sped up.

Kang ran into some trouble on the 9th hole