2006 Corning Classic

On 15, the hole Jimin Kang had made a hole in one on the previous year, JJ hit a great iron of her own 8 feet over the flag, but could not make birdie. She also left her birdie try on 16 a few feet short. This brief lull in her birdie making allowed Hee-Won to slightly move up when she made an 8 foot birdie on 17 to move to 11 under. But she was still 5 shots back, a lot of ground to make up in one round. Burton, Virada and Scranton would all finish the day at 12 under, while Han finished at 11 under. Meena's two under par 70 left her at 9 under, 7 shots back at the moment. At this point it was JJ's tournament to lose.

On the 18th and final hole of the day, JJ hit her drive into the right rough. It was her first missed fairway of the day. Her approach was no gimme, in deep rough with tree trouble, but she managed to get her shot into a greenside bunker. Her sand shot was OK, but 8 feet short, and she could not save par. So she wound up with a 6 under par 66 on the day, and a 15 under par total. For only the third time in her career, she would enter the final round of a tournament with a lead. The first time, she had won: the Women's British Open in 2005. The second time, she had lost (the Office Depot, a tournament eventually won by Hee-Won Han, her closest Korean chaser). What would the third result be?

JJ admitted to the press after her round that she was nervous about sleeping on a lead, and that she felt more comfortable being one or two shots back going into a final round. This seemed a strange sentiment, given the only win she had had on tour came when she led the tournament start to finish. Hopefully, her negative attitude about the lead would not become a self fulfilling prophecy.

On the final day, JJ definitely started with a case of the nerves. Still, she hung in there OK until she reached the par 5 5th hole. There, she put her drive into the trees. But it was her second shot that was the disaster. It bounced off a tree and ricocheted out of bounds. She wound up with a double bogey on the hole, which let a whole bunch of players back into the race. Her accuracy off the tee was still quite good, but her putting was much worse. But she was still tied for the lead and could win if she could rally.

Meanwhile, several players had made a charge from the back, the result being a very tightly bunched leaderboard. Meena Lee, who had started the day 6 shots back, had moved all the way to 13 under and was now tied for the lead with JJ. Also tied at 13 under were Burton, Mhairi McKay and Laura Diaz. Hee-Won Han was a shot back at 12 under.

On the second par 5, JJ again missed the green, only her second missed green of the day. Her chip was not so impressive, but she made a clutch 6 foot par save to hang in there at 13 under. She had to also scramble to save par on 9, but failed to do so, falling to 12 under. She was thus three over par for the front nine. There was still a lot of time left for her to get that back, and being in the final group, she had more holes yet to play than the rest of the field.

Meanwhile, Meena Lee continued her torrid pace. She was playing the par 5 12th, and knocked her 3rd shot to 2 feet with a wedge. Her birdie there moved her to 14 under par, and gave her the lead all by herself. By this point, McKay, Burton and Diaz had been joined by Giulia Sergas at 13 under, with JJ at 12 under and Hee-Won at 11 under. There were still any number of ladies who could win.

Sergas was the next player to move to 14 under when she hit her third on the par 5 12th to a few feet and made birdie. But while this was going on, Meena missed the green on 13 and could not get it up and down. So she fell to 13 under, and Sergas was now the sole leader. JJ, still trying to get her mojo back, was left with an 80 foot birdie try on the tenth hole, which she very nearly made. She saved par there, but was having a hard time giving herself the birdie chances she was going to need to climb back. Burton then missed a 3 foot par save on the same hole to fall to 12 under. The crowd at the top was thinning somewhat, and thinned even more when Diaz made back to back bogies on 11 and 12 to fall to 11 under, and McKay lipped out a par save on 13 to fall to 12 under herself. At this point, Sergas still had the lead at 14 under, Meena was at 13 under, and a bunch of golfers were at 12 under.

Meena hung in at 13 under, too. Her approach on the par 5 14th spun back off the green, and her 4th shot was a chip that went a few feet by the hole. This left her a dicey par save, but she made it to hang in at 13 under. Sergas then missed a three foot par save on the tricky 13th, then also missed her bogey save as well. She fell to 12 under, and would not be a factor again.

JJ gave herself a great birdie chance on 11, but it was a downhiller, and she missed it. On 12, she hit her approach 6 feet short, but again could not make birdie, although her attempt was but a single roll away from falling into the hole. Burton then barely missed a birdie putt to tie for the lead, followed by Diaz leaving a try just short. Finally, on the 15th hole, McKay made a birdie to move to 13 under. She and Meena were now tied. It seemed likely that this event would go down to the wire with half a dozen golfers in furious competition with each other for the title.

But Meena was not about to let that happen. On the 16th hole she hit a fantastic iron to two feet, then kicked in the birdie to move out into the lead again at 14 under. Nancy Scranton moved to 13 under after a long birdie try, but fell back again with a bogey on the par 5 14th. But Hee-Won did not squander the par 5, and made a six foot birdie to move to 13 under. She had been quietly lurking most of the round, but now found herself just one shot out of the lead. Considering how hot she had been the past two months, she had to be feeling pretty confident at that point.

But again Meena Lee made a bold shot to try to put the title away. On 17 she hit her approach from the middle of the fairway to about two feet. Once again she made the birdie and now moved to a two shot lead at 15 under. On 18, her approach landed in the fringe, perhaps 20 feet from the flag, but she hit a marvelous putt from there that looked destined to fall into the cup, but just missed. She even had started her celebration, but the golf gods can be cruel to premature celebraters! The par tap in gave her a 6 under par 66 on the final day and a 15 under par clubhouse lead. She would be tough to catch. It must have been particularly exciting for her to put the par in on that hole, considering it was that very hole which had cost her the championship in 2005 when she double bogied it.

As the round wound towards its conclusion, nobody was making a charge at Lee. Hee-Won hit a poor approach on 16, but two putted to stay two shots back. Diaz, however, missed her par save, fell to 12 under and was pretty much out of it. JJ was not able to cash in a birdie on 15, and so had to birdie her last three holes to catch Lee.

Hee-Won hit a great drive on 17, then hit her approach to about ten feet. She left herself a winding, hard to read birdie attempt that she had to make to have any realistic chance of winning. She stroked the putt well, and it tracked to the hole, but slowed down as it approached. Still, it had just enough juice to find the bottom of the cup. Hee-Won smiled broadly to her caddie. She still had a chance to catch Lee!

She hit another great drive on 18, then stuffed her approach to 2 feet. A fantastic shot, and at just the right moment! Minutes later she made that birdie and tied Lee. The only question now was whether anyone could join them in the playoff that was certain to happen.

It wouldn't be Burton. She made a nice run at the end with two birdies, but it was one hole too late and she finished at 14 under, one shot out of the playoff. And it wouldn't be JJ, who continued to struggle, eventually shooting a 4 over par 76 on the day. A very disappointing result for JJ, who looked like a lock to take her second career win. But hopefully a good learning experience for her.