2005 Safeway Classic

Hole 10: They all hit nice drives, but Gloria, who went first, hit her second shot into the water on the right. She dropped there and hit a decent iron to about 15 feet, but was not able to save par. The other two ladies hit nice second shots. JJ hit her approach a bit short of the flag, and it rolled a ways down the green backwards. Kang saw that, and hit her iron too far; it ended up in the rough behind the green. From there, she hit a cute chip that almost dropped (did I mention she has a good short game?). She made the two foot par. So JJ had a chance to gain another stroke, but was not able to make her ten foot birdie try and settled for par. Kang -15, JJ -13, Gloria -9

Hole 11: Good drives. Kang had another good par save here, and again JJ could not capitalize with a birdie. At this point, Jang was starting to run out of holes, and had let two decent chances to put pressure on Kang slip away.

Hole 12: Par 5. Kang hit her first bad shot in a while, a drive that went due right, but luckily bounced back out into the fairway. From way back, she hit a perfect second shot down the fairway. Gloria's second was straight, just short of the green, while JJ went a bit right behind the greenside bunker. Kang's third shot from about 70 yards was not that great; it landed about 12 feet past the hole. But she made the clutch birdie! You could see the look of relief on her face when the ball dropped. Gloria chipped up to the within a couple feet for her third and had an easy birdie. JJ's flop got to 7 feet, but she could not make the birdie. This was a huge miss, and Kang later commented that when it happened, her confidence increased a lot. Kang -16, JJ -13, Gloria -10

Hole 13: par 3 over water. Flag in front. Kang put hers on the tier above the flag, a hard place to two putt from. Gloria put her tee shot real close, within four feet. JJ was on the fringe to the right of the green, but at least on the right level. JJ made par from there. Kang hit a great slow putt that stopped right near the hole for an easy par. She has been so clutch with her short game today. Gloria missed the five foot birdie.

Kang makes a crucial birdie on
hole 12

Another great approach by Soo-Yun

Kang takes a moment to relax on Sunday

Hole 14: Gloria and Kang hit perfect drives, but JJ went to the right. That's pretty much a guaranteed bogey from there, but she could not afford to give Kang another stroke and she knew it. Today the flag was in the upper left corner of the green. Kang's approach ended up in the rough behind the flag. She hit a good chip from there, but had a four foot par save, which again she made. Nerves of steel! JJ chipped out of the trees, put her approach to 15 feet, then just missed the par save. Gloria made a short birdie putt (finally!) to close the gap on JJ but not much on Kang. Kang -16, JJ -12, Gloria -11

Hole 15: Now it was Gloria's turn to go right into the trees. The other two ladies were fine. Gloria punched out, hit her third over the green, and made a two putt bogey. JJ and Kang par, which means JJ would now need some help from Kang to have any chance to win. But the three remaining holes were all hard, so Kang could not yet rest on her laurels. Kang -16, JJ -12, Gloria -10

Hole 16: Last par 3. All pars here, no one was very close

Hole 17: Kang hit a good drive. She is supremely confident by now. JJ's was a bit shorter than usual. Gloria hit hers right again, where the lake is. But luckily she didn't get it in there. But her second shot clipped a tree on the way out and dropped straight down into the fairway. Gloria and JJ seem to be the nervous ones, not Kang, who has been smiling and relaxed since the birdie on 12. Gloria hit a great third shot three feet past hole and saved par. JJ put her second up above the hole; good luck getting it anywhere close to the hole from there. Kang hit a great approach to a few feet, but this tricky green would not give her the birdie. Tap in par. Still, she was only counting the minutes now. JJ's putt went four feet past, then she bogied. The 4th place person is now Joo Mi Kim, so even with the bogey, JJ is probably guaranteed no worse than third. But Kang all but has it now. Kang -16, JJ -11, Gloria -10

Hole 18: Kang in right rough, other two fine. JJ and Gloria made routine pars, which means that JJ just held off Gloria and snagged solo second place. A great finish following her first win at the British Open. Kang put her approach into the same bunker as Saturday, and hit another nice out, but did not save par. Who cares? She made bogey, and the trophy was hers!

Kang's putting was magnificent on Sunday

Kang gets drenched in champagne by her Korean pals

For the final six - eight holes, every time the final group arrived at a tee box or a green, they were given a big round of applause. When Kang walked up the 18th, it was particularly heartfelt, and, overcome, she removed her visor and wiped tears from her eyes. The marshalls then let fans stand in the fairway in front of the green to watch the final shots (they've never done that before that I recall). After Kang won, she hugged her playing partners, and you could see Grace Park and Birdie Kim come out of the tunnel with champagne bottles in hand. They were vigorously shaking them, and Kang was totally oblivious to it, facing the other way. Moments later, she was drenched by her good friends, shrieking in surprise and delight.

A lot of the Korean gals were at the green waiting for her, including Joo Mi, Sung Ah, Grace, Birdie, and Hee-Won, who gave Kang a particularly long, heartfelt hug (Kang later revealed that she has known Hee-Won for 18 years). The crowd applauded when Kangsy's sister, who had been following her all week, came out to congratulate her. As she left to sign her scorecard, she threw her ball into the stands to the delighted squeals of the crowd.

Then they did the trophy ceremony. The funniest thing here was that they forced her to lift it, and it was huge (last year I don't recall Hee-Won having to lift it). After about a minute of holding it, she put it down, and laughingly told them that it was too heavy. After the big check, she presented a plaque to the Safeway people. There was an English speech on the back she read, but some of it was hard to understand. I think she was a bit flustered. Kay Cockerill, the Golf Channel commentator, interviewed her, and she did an admirable job of answering in English, but pretty much like JJ or Kimmie: you can understand her, but she didn't say anything too complicated.

Next, she was mobbed by photographers and reporters. She talked to one reporter for several minutes while a lot of others took her pic. After about ten minutes of that, she left.

The tournament had been everything a Korean golf fan could dream about: for the first time, Koreans finished in the top five spots on a leaderboard. Besides Kang, who ended up at 15 under par, there was Jeong Jang, second at 11 under; Gloria Park, third with 10 under; Joo Mi Kim, with her career best finish, a solo 4th place at 8 under; and Sung Ah Yim, who tied Beth Daniel at 7 under for fifth place. Hee-Won Han and Aree Song also snagged top tens for a total of seven Koreans in the top ten (OK, 6 and a half, since Aree is half Korean and half Thai).

The trophy was hers at last!
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Kangsy breaks down after her win. What a week!