LEEderboard Report

The early leader in the 2006 edition of the tournament was a most surprising one, Sarah Lee. At one point in early 2004, Lee looked like she would become the next big Korean star on tour. She was always blessed with strength and length, but starting in late 2003, the rest of her game began to measure up to that promise. The result was three second place finishes in rapid succession, and an appearance in the final group at the 2004 Nabisco on Sunday. But after that, she faded. Injuries often plagued her; in 2005, for instance, a thumb problem curtailed her season. She went from being a top 30 player to being well off the map. She did not even manage a top ten finish in all of 2005. So needless to say, it seemed unlikely that Sarah was going to suddenly manage a great tournament. (By the way, Sarah had gone back to using her original English name - she had lived in England her first three years and had been named by a nanny - from the name Jung Yeon, which she had used when she started on tour. Her reason is that there were too many other JY Lees on tour - Jee Young and Ji Yeon - and she wanted to stand out from the crowd a bit more).

But play a great tournament Sarah did, and it started right on day one. Playing in an early group on Thursday morning, she produced a 7 under par 65 to take the lead. Included in this round was a scintillating final 7 holes: she went 6 under in that stretch, including her first ever hole in one on the par 3 17th. Her lead would hold up for much of the day, until Aree Song - in one of the final groups of the day - exceeded it by one with an 8 under par 64. This was Aree's career low round on the LPGA tour. Like Sarah, Aree had changed her name since starting golf - she had been known as Aree Wongluekiet when she first started playing, but chose to adopt her father's surname when she turned pro. Like Sarah, she had struggled much of the last year and a half, and her slump had started at almost the exact same time as Lee's had. And like Lee, she had played in that same final Sunday group at the 2004 Nabisco. Now their paths were destined to cross for four days in the Arizona desert.

Most of the Korean golfers finished day one at either two or one under par. At 2 under were Grace Park (playing in her adopted hometown), Il Mi Chung, Sae-Hee Son, Shi Hyun Ahn and Young Jo, while finishing at one under were amateur Angela Park, Gloria Park, Hee-Won Han, Jimin Kang, Meena Lee and Soo-Yun Kang. Se Ri Pak shot a one over par 73, and once again found herself in danger of missing the cut.

Se Ri did her best to make sure she would not miss her first cut of the year. She got out to a great start, in fact, going 4 under par on her round at one point. But towards the end of her round, she got on a bogey train and couldn't get off. She made five straight bogies to fall to +1 on the day, and would finish even for her round. Unfortunately, that 1 over total was just bad enough to make her miss the cut, which fell at even par. She wound up with six birdies on the day, but also six bogies. Her comeback was still very much a work in progress.

Sarah Lee and Aree Song, however, did quite a bit better. Playing in the morning, Aree followed her 64 with a 3 under par 69 to move to 11 under total. Breathing down her neck were Paula Creamer and Suzann Pettersen at 10 under par. Playing in the afternoon, Sarah once again excelled on the back nine of the course. This time she shot 5 under par for holes 13 - 18. Although she only made birdie this time on 17 instead of eagle, she made up for that on the 18th hole when she made the green in two and buried an eagle on her final hole of the day to move ahead of Aree to 13 under par.

Other Koreans doing well included Soo Young Moon, Young Kim and Young Jo at 6 under (this is the Young Ones contingent!), Young-A Yang at 7 under (another Young one. Wow, that's almost as strange as the Lee attack!), Joo Mi Kim and Shi Hyun Ahn at 5 under, and Esther Choe, a 16 year old amateur, at 4 under par.

On Saturday, Aree and Sarah finally played together in the final group again. It had been nearly two years since the last time they had had that honor, at the Nabisco championship. The early fire was provided, however, by Jeong Jang. Starting the day at 3 under par, she produced a 6 under par 66, which would wind up being the low round of the day, and moved all the way to 9 under par. But some of the other top players close to Song and Lee were not doing so well, including Creamer and Pettersen, who would both struggle all day. It seemed more and more like it would come down to a battle between the two Koreans.

By the 9th hole, Sarah had staked herself to a three shot lead over Aree, 14 under par vs. 11 under. Both ladies would bogey the 10th hole. But Lee would struggle again on the 11th, and despite a nice third shot over a bunker to five feet, could not save par. Aree did, and so the scores now were 12 under par for Lee, 10 under for Song.

But just when it looked like Lee was going to tank, she snapped back into form. Sarah didn't much like her tee shot on 12, releasing one hand from the club (she would do that a lot on this day), but the ball still rolled up onto the green and she saved par. On 13, Sarah again drove into the rough while Aree was perfect. But Lee hit a great approach to three feet and made birdie, while Aree's approach was lackluster and she could only make par. The lead was again three.

The 14th hole is only 310 yards, and a lot of players took driver and tried to drive the green here. Lee was certainly long enough to do it, but did not wait for Paula Creamer to get off the green before she hit. Her drive ended up in the greenside bunker, but good thing it did, for it was long enough to reach the green and possibly hit Creamer had it been straighter. Aree's shot was straight, but just short of the surface. Once again she seemed to have the advantage.

Sarah compounded her troubles with a weak sand shot that left the ball eight feet short. But Song's chip was even worse, blowing 15 feet past the hole. Aree then stepped up to the putt and drilled it for birdie, following which Lee also made her birdie. So both ladies rescued the hole after weak second shots, and their scores were now 14 under par for Lee, 11 under for Song. It was impressive that Lee had followed two bogies with two birdies to get herself back on track.

After trading pars on 15, Lee hit her drive through the desert on 16; luckily for her, it bounced out into the rough. Song, as usual, was perfect off the tee. Lee's approach was also dicey, into some deep rough, but she managed to save par nonetheless. Song also made par. They both also came close to birdies on 17, but had to settle for par.

So even though Sarah Lee had struggled, she still had a three shot lead on Song. Then they reached the 18th hole, a par 5 that Sarah had eagled the previous day to move into the lead. On this day, her tee shot was all right, but her second shot was lame, putting her into the rough right of the green. Aree hit her usual perfect drive, then followed it with an astounding approach to four feet. Now the pressure was really on Lee. But Sarah's flop shot went 15 feet by the hole, and she two putted for par. Song then made eagle to move to within one shot. After trailing by three shots most of the day, on her final shot she had all but closed the gap. They would once again meet in the final group Sunday.