The Quiet Korean

The Sybase Classic is played every year at the century old course at Wykagyl Country Club in New Rochelle, New York, just north of New York City. It has been a great tournament for the Korean golfers over the years; something about the tight, hilly, tree lined course reminds the women of the courses they played in Korea growing up. In 2002, Hee-Won played brilliantly at this event, even holding off Annika Sorenstam as they played in the final group together on Sunday. But the third member of that group, Gloria Park, another Korean star, matched Han shot for shot coming down the stretch. Still, Hee-Won had a chance to put it away on the 18th hole, but couldn't do it, and the two women went to a playoff which Gloria eventually won. The next year, however, Hee-Won got her revenge, winning the event for her first ever triumph on the LPGA tour and the start of her rise to superstardom. Last year, the leaderboard was covered with Korean golfers: Christina Kim, Joo Mi Kim, Jeong Jang, Hee-Won, Mi Hyun Kim, Soo-Yun Kang, Grace Park and Gloria Park all had chances to win. In the end, however, it was rookie Paula Creamer, making a birdie on the final hole, who snagged the one shot victory. Gloria and JJ finish tied for second, Christina 4th, Joo Mi tied for 5th , Kimmie 7th, and Soo-Yun tied for 8th. Hee-Won finished just out of the top ten in 11th place. If there was an event on tour where the Koreans could be expected to excel, this was it.

The event used to be held in July. This meant that the weather was often great and the crowds decent. But it also punished the golf course: the grass was sensitive in the heat. The LPGA moved the event to May last year, but this has produced its own problems. For one thing, the crowds tend to be sparser now than they were before. For another, the weather is often rainy this time of year in New York. That was certainly the case at this year's Sybase. Rain drenched the course during the practice rounds, and returned with a vengeance during the event. To make it even more challenging, the wind was tough this year, making club selection tricky. And then there were the greens. Wykagyl is known for some of the most challenging greens on tour. The course can yield low scores when the conditions are right. But it can also be mighty tough at other times. Particularly treacherous is the par 3 16th hole, perhaps the most treacherous hole the ladies play all year. The green is so sloped that, if one leaves oneself a downhill putt, it's nearly impossible to stop it anywhere near the hole. Several times during the week, players would tap the ball only to watch it slowly roll past the hole and all the way off the green. The course also has its share of holes with false fronts: an approach will put a ball near the hole, but it's an illusion, because in fact the green is so sloped at the spot the ball lands that the ball will roll backwards away from the flag. Sometimes the ball will continue rolling until it is 20 or 30 yards off the front of the green. The 9th hole is a particularly nasty hole in this regard, as certain top players would discover as the week went on.

In round one, a familiar player found the top of the leaderboard. Hee-Won Han continued her stellar play of late by shooting a three under par 68 to grab a share of the lead with Natalie Gulbis and Beth Bauer. It certainly was surprising to see Bauer up there; since winning the 2002 Rookie of the Year award, her game had fallen on such hard times that she was having difficulty even maintaining her exempt status on tour. She had even been forced to return to LPGA Q-School in 2005. But Bauer's success would prove a temporary one. Although she had her best finish of the year (and her first made cut), she would not seriously contend for the title. Hee-Won's score came courtesy of 4 birdies and one bogey. Her lone bogey came on the deadly 16th hole, but considering most of the field struggled on that hole, it didn't impact her too badly.

Heavy rains hit the course in the afternoon. Although most of the players managed to get into the house before things got too bad, 15 players were not able to finish their rounds. Included in that group was Sun Young Yoo. The rookie was two under par after 17 holes, just one shot out of the lead. She would have a long wait before finally playing that last hole. Among the other Koreans who were doing well were rookie Seon Hwa Lee, who shot a 70 in the morning rounds. Mi Hyun Kim, who also has a good track record on this course in the past, shot a 70, too. A gaggle of Korean players finished at even par, including Kyeong Bae (another rookie), Jeong Jang, Young Jo, Young Kim, and Gloria Park. For Gloria, a past winner at this event and coming off a second place finish in the 2005 event, it marked the first chance in 2006 to really make an impression on a leaderboard. To put it mildly, she had struggled immensely thus far in the new season. She had not been helped by a family emergency (a sick grandmother), which forced her to drop out of one of the Hawaiian events and return to Korea. Fortunately, the grandmother got better, and Gloria's game is starting to show signs of life. She had produced a 14th place finish at the Franklin American Mortgage Championship for her first top 20 of the year. She hoped that returning to Wykagyl, a place where she has had more success than any other, would allow her to kick her game back into its usual powerful place.

On Friday, the rains kept coming. The 15 first rounders who had not finished their rounds waited and waited for a chance to get out there, but it never came. They first postponed play for four hours, then six, then finally decided the course was too wet to allow play at all. They did not decide, however, to shorten the event at that time. Thus it was still possible that the golfers would have to play 36 holes on Sunday.

They were finally able to get back out there on Saturday. After waiting two days, Yoo made a bogey on her final hole to finish the day at one under par. Shortly thereafter, the second round got under way, and the story of the round was Gloria Park. Gloria has had a little indecision about what name she wanted the press to use for her this season. At times she has called herself by her Korean name, Hee Jung, ostensibly to make it easier for her Korean fans to find her on leaderboards. But that, of course, made it harder for her Western fans, who had no idea who 'Hee Jung' was (or at the least tended to think of her as 'Gloria' first and foremost). So a few events in, she changed things up again, and now goes by the jaw dropping moniker of Gloria Hee Jung Park. For sake of ease, I'll just keep referring to her as Gloria for the time being! Anyway, Gloria, or Hee Jung, or Gloria Hee Jung, or whatever you want to call her, really burned up the course on this day. In truly terrible conditions made even more challenging by swirling winds, she produced a 4 under par 67 to climb to the top of the leaderboard at 4 under. She might have been in even better condition had she not bogied her final hole, the deadly par 4 9th, when her approach shot rolled all the way back down the hill into the fairway and she could not get it up and down from there. Still, she was upbeat after her round, and because she played early in the morning, she got to sit back and watch the rest of the field try to catch her.

One player who did quite well was Annika Sorenstam, who matched Park with a 67 of her own to move to 3 under par and one shot behind Gloria. Sorenstam would end up playing in the final group with Gloria on Sunday. The last time that had happened, Gloria outplayed her and won this very tournament (in 2003). Since then, of course, Sorenstam had won umpteen tournaments, while Gloria has not won since. But recent events had not been kind to Annika. The last time she had played in a final group in 2006, she was beaten by her playing partner after shooting a disastrous 3 over par 75. That playing partner was another young Korean, Sung Ah Yim, and the event was the Florida's Natural Championship. What would happen this time?

Meanwhile, several more Korean players took their shot at Gloria's lead on Saturday only to fall short. Hee-Won Han started the day at 3 under, but got off to a terrible start, bogeying three of her first four holes. It looked like she might collapse, but she regrouped and birdied the fifteenth before bogeying the nasty 16th hole. At that point she was at even par, four shots out of the lead. Although she would never quite recover from that, she did make a run to get herself back into contention, birdying 18 and 3 to briefly move to one over for the day before a final bogey on 5 knocked her back to 2 over. She ended up with a 73 and a one under par total. Not bad, really; only three shots back, she still was very much in the title hunt. Seon Hwa Lee kept her chances alive with an even par round to also finish at one under par, while Jeong Jang shot a one over par round and ended up at +1 for the event. Sun Young Yoo, however, shot a 4 over par 75 to fade to +3, and Kyeong Bae, Young Jo and Young Kim all shot two over par 73s. So it looked like Gloria, Seon Hwa and Hee-Won were the best bets for the Koreans. But could any of them stop a rejuvenated Sorenstam?