2005 Wendy's Championship for Children

Soo Yun Kang
Kang, coming off her maiden LPGA victory at the Safeway Classic, continued her strong play in Columbus, Ohio. She shot a 66 in the first round to take a share of the lead, then followed that up with a second 66 to lead after round 2. This marked her fifth straight round leading an LPGA tournament. The second round 66 was particularly impressive. She opened with two birdies. On her third hole, the 12th, she hit her drive into a creek along the right side of the fairway, dropped, then hit her approach into water as well. She wound up with a triple bogey on the hole, but still made nine birdies overall on the day. Four of her approaches for birdie were less than a foot from the hole, indicating she was hitting laserlike irons repeatedly.

In the third round she slowed down somewhat, but still managed a 69 to stay only a shot out of the lead going into the final round. Alas, she finally ran out of steam on Sunday, managing only an even par 72 for a 6th place finish, her fourth top ten of the year. This event also marked another first for Kang: her first ever English language interview on TV, which came during a rain delay on the third day of the event. Kang demonstrated decent command of English as she described how happy she was to finally win on tour, and how her putting was still as good as the previous week, but her irons were even sharper. Her finish also moved her to 18th on the money list, the highest she had ever been on the list this late in the season.

Soo Yun Kang had a lot to smile about in Columbus,
as she made her fourth top ten of the year.

JJ in round 2

Jeong Jang
Jeong Jang might be the hottest player in women's golf right now. She played great at the Jamie Farr Classic, ending up with a 5th place. She then won the Women's British Open for her first ever win on tour, and followed that up with a second place at the Safeway Classic. At the Wendy's, her torrid streak continued. Her first three rounds left her in a good place to get her tenth top ten of the year, but she had a relatively small chance of winning from that far back. But both she and her playing partner Annika Sorenstam caught fire early, making a lot of birdies and moving up the leader board. Although JJ was pretty much out of it by the time she reached 18, she still had a short birdie that would have given her a tie for 2nd place. Alas, she just missed it, and had to settle for fourth. This moved her year's money total to over $900,000.

The downside was that the three people who finished ahead of her were all ahead of her on the money list; thus she actually lost ground to them despite her great week.

Others
Young Kim notched her 10th top 20 of the season with her tie for 9th this week. She now sits at 26th on the money list, and looks good, if she can continue this pace, to have her best season as an LPGA pro. She did this thanks largely to a great final round 66, which tied for the low round of the day. Christina Kim also shot a 66 on Sunday, and rose to one of her better recent finishes, a tie for 20th. Her finish here virtually assured her of a spot on the Solheim Cup for 2005.

Hee-Won Han, however, had a very disappointing week at the Wendy's. In 2002, she finished second to fellow Korean Mi Hyun Kim here. In 2003, however, it was Hee-Won who came out on top, winning a scintillating playoff with Wendy Ward. In 2004, she looked likely to repeat, but struggled a bit coming in, allowing Catriona Matthew to catch her. Han lost on the first hole of a playoff. So, three top two finishes in three years; she obviously likes this course. But this year, she never managed to get it going, and shot a miserable 72-75 on the weekend to finish 55th.

Hee-Won in round 2