LEEderboard Report

Every year, it seems, the Korean presence on the LPGA has grown and grown. We've seen Se Ri Pak achieve Hall of Fame status, Grace Park win the Vare Trophy, a gaggle of Korean players win Rookie of the Year, and Birdie Kim and Jeong Jang add themselves to the short list of Major winners on tour. In 2006, there are over thirty Koreans regularly playing on tour, and in the first two events this season, Koreans duked it out in playoffs for the right to hoist the trophies in the end.

One interesting phenomenon that has developed in 2006 is the success of Korean golfers named Lee on tour. By no means are they the only successful Koreans, of course; but considering that, coming into this season, Meena Lee was the only Lee who had managed to win an LPGA event, this sudden burst of achievement is definitely noteworthy. In the first event of the year, it was Joo Mi Kim and Soo Young Moon who played best, Kim eventually winning the title in a playoff. But just out of the top ten that week was a young rookie named Seon Hwa Lee, who showed by her top finish that week - as well as her #1 status on the Futures Tour in 2005 - that she would be a player to watch in the new year.

In 2006, Seon Hwa did not take long to live up to that promise. In the very next event, she charged out to the lead and held on to it tenaciously most of the week. By the start of the final round, she had a two shot lead, and looked strong to win her first LPGA event in only her second event on tour.

But lurking six shots back was another Lee, the aforementioned Meena. Meena Lee had won an event in 2005, her rookie season, and had become the first Korean player named Lee to finish in the top ten on the money list when she ended the 2005 season in 7th. Normally, six shots would be rather too much ground to make up in one round, but Meena got off to an explosive start, with a birdie followed by a hole out for eagle in her first two holes. While Seon Hwa played decently, she was not able to extend her lead, and held fast around 14 under par. Meena continued to move on the back nine, making birdie on the par 5 13th, then another birdie on the 16th to move to 13 under par. At the time, that was the top score in the clubhouse, which had been established a little earlier by teenager Michelle Wie. Seon Hwa, meanwhile, stumbled to 12 under, but made back to back birdies on two par 5s to get back to 14 under. At the time, it looked like she would win if she just got to the clubhouse in even par.

On the 18th hole, one of the harder holes on the course, Meena hit a wonderful approach to a few feet and nailed a rare birdie there to move to 14 under. This eliminated Wie, and Meena merely had to wait to see if it would be good enough to top Seon Hwa. The young rookie had her chances, just missing a birdie try on 16, then saved a clutch par on 17. But after missing another makeable birdie on 18, Seon Hwa found herself tied with the elder Lee at the end of regulation. Playoff time.

And so, two Lees battled it out for the title at the Fields Open. They had once before met in a playoff on the KLPGA tour; at that time, it was Meena who came out on top. And the same thing happened in Hawaii, with Meena making birdie on the third playoff hole to put away Seon Hwa. But with a one-two finish, the Lees had made quite a statement for players named Lee on the LPGA tour!

That would have been an interesting coincidence, had it been an isolated event. But the very next event proved that Lees would be a factor on LPGA LEEderboards for weeks to come.

The next event on tour was the MasterCard Classic, a second year event contested in Mexico City, Mexico. The big news for fans of Korean golf was that this would be the first event in 2006 for Se Ri Pak. Se Ri, once the undisputed superstar of Korean golf (and, except for Annika Sorenstam, of women's golf in general), had fallen mighty far in the 22 months since her last LPGA victory. By the middle of the 2005 season, she was struggling with a slump so bad that she was publicly wondering if there was more to life than playing golf all the time. Shortly thereafter, she suffered an injury to one of her fingers that forcibly sidelined her for the rest of the season. She had not played a competitive round of golf since the British Women's Open the previous July, and even there she had not lasted a full round before being forced to drop out due to the injury. How would a layoff from competition of nearly nine months affect this great star?

It turns out that the injury might have been the best thing to happen to Se Ri. It forced her to completely lay off golf for several months while her injury healed. In the interim, she got a chance to indulge herself in some new hobbies, including mountain climbing and taekwando. Indeed, she became somewhat of a nut about the Korean martial art, and still practices it regularly to this day. But the layoff also gave her a chance to take a break from golf, so that, when the cast came off and she was able to practice again, she was hungry to get back to where she once had been. To this end, she threw herself maniacally into her all out practice regimen. She worked hard to get herself in the best shape of her life, and practiced from 7 am to dark every day on all aspects of her game. In interviews, she expressed confidence that 2006 would see her return to her former glory, and believed that her driving accuracy issues were fixed. She addressed her fans directly, telling them she would be back to her old ways before long.

So the question that hung over the course was, could the old Se Ri come back? And if so, how long before her fans got to see her play at her formerly high levels? Well, the very start of her first round in Mexico was not one that gave her fans a lot of hope. She quickly fell to 4 over par in just her first eight holes. She was still having problems keeping her drives straight. But starting with a birdie on the 9th hole, she began to right the ship. Playing with Paula Creamer, the player who had taken both Se Ri's former caddie Colin Cann as well as Se Ri's former #2 on tour status, Pak was easily outdriving the young star hole after hole, despite the fact Creamer had supposedly added 15 - 20 yards to her driving distance in the off season. By the time she reached the televised holes on the back nine, her game was actually looking pretty good. Not only was her length impressive, but her accuracy was decent as well. Dottie Pepper, commentating for the Golf Channel, remarked that she was astounded that Se Ri's swing could be so solid looking so soon after her return.

Among the highlights of this stretch of holes was a monstrous drive on the par 5 12th hole that left her only 178 yards for her second shot. She hit a six iron there, and it was too much club, bounding off the back of the green. You know you're doing something right when you have a six iron for your second club on a par 5, and it's too much club! She hit a marvelous chip to about six inches for an easy birdie there. A little later, she hit a fabulous iron on the par 3 14th to 4 feet, but missed the birdie.

In her final ten holes, she went even par. Some of her shots were just amazing, some were very solid, but some others showed the rustiness you would expect from such a long layoff. She missed a short par save on 16 (she three putted), and hit a rather bad iron on the par 3 11th for another bogey. As a result, she had some work to do to make the cut.

Seon Hwa Lee, meanwhile, was busy showing that her second place finish at the Fields was no fluke. The lead had been established in the morning by Annika Sorenstam, who shot a 5 under par 67 in her first event of 2006. Seon Hwa quickly climbed to 3 under herself, thanks to an early eagle. She would wind up with a very solid 2 under par 70 for the day.

The previous week's winner, Meena Lee, wasted no time making her own move. She overshot the green in 2 on the par 5 12th, her ball winding up in the bunker beyond. From there, she hit a great out and made birdie to move to 4 under for the day, just one shot out of the lead. She hit a great approach on the next hole, but the ball didn't bite and rolled a good deal past the hole. She still almost made birdie, but settled for a tap in par. She similarly just missed birdie on 14, hitting her putt a foot past. Still, it looked like only a matter of time before she caught the leaders.

On the 15th hole, however, her drive landed in the right rough, and her approach was a major flier. It flew the green and rolled into a creek behind it. Meena needed a ruling to figure out where to drop her ball. Her chip was not a good one, and she two putted for double bogey. She would end her day with a solid 70 herself, but it could have been so much more with just a little luck.