2006 Weetabix Women's British Open

2006 has been a truly amazing year for the Korean golfers on the LPGA tour. They have been winning at an unprecedented rate. Hardly an event has gone by where a Korean golfer has not at least been in contention; in some events, the leaderboard has been covered with them. And perhaps most amazingly of all, just like in 2005, it hasn't just been one or two Korean golfers dominating; the nine events they had won as of late July had been won by eight different golfers, including three first time winners.

So the expectations were high as the Korean Kontingent entered the final Major of the year, the Weetabix Women's British Open. For one thing, the defending champion was a Korean: Jeong Jang. JJ had made this event her first ever win on tour in 2005, and she had done it in style, leading from start to finish and ending up with a four shot margin over the field. But though it was her first win on tour, it was not the only time she had risen to the challenge at a Major. In fact, she has enjoyed a great career playing tough courses, particularly ones with treacherous weather and windy conditions. In other words, just the kind of weather one would expect to see on a British links course. Since her win, she had been one of the two or three best Korean golfers in the game, consistently putting up one good finish after another. She won her second event in Rochester just a few weeks before this year's British Open. Though defending her title would be a challenge, it certainly seemed like one she could ably meet.

But there were other Koreans to look out for coming into this week. Se Ri Pak and Mi Hyun Kim had both been extremely consistent the previous few months, each one notching a win and several other top finishes in recent events. Kimmie's win, in fact, had come just a few weeks earlier at the Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic (Se Ri had finished fourth there), and both had also made top ten finishes at the Evian Masters, which had been played the week before the British. For Kim, it has definitely been a great season; she already had earnings in excess of a million dollars for the season entering the week. But she has also had a peculiar love/hate relationship with this particular event. In fact, after nearly winning it in 2001, she has managed to miss the cut most every year since. It remained to be seen whether she could rise to the challenge in 2006.

Se Ri, meanwhile, was the only Korean golfer besides JJ to ever hoist the British Open trophy. The 2006 event was taking place at Royal Lytham and St. Anne's golf course. The last time it had been contested there, in 2003, Se Ri played awesomely. With a few holes to go in the third round, she had the lead, but struggled coming in and finished the day just a shot back. In the final round, she and Annika Sorenstam slugged it out for 18 glorious holes, waging one of the most memorable battles in LPGA history. Alas, in the end, Se Ri lost it when she missed a par save on the final hole. But she certainly had some fine memories to call on as she tried to better her result this year.

But even Se Ri had some sour recent memories of this tournament to deal with. In 2005, during the first round, she injured a finger when hitting a shot. She was forced to drop out of the tournament eventually, and discovered a few weeks later that the injury was so severe she had to prematurely end her entire season. Every indication, though, was that things would turn out better for Se Ri this year. She had won a Major only a couple months earlier (as had Sorenstam), and the stage seemed set for a repeat of the great battle they had waged there in 2003. Only this time, Seoul Sisters fans were hoping that Se Ri would come out on top.

As the ladies arrived early in the week, the weather was atrocious. High winds, rain, and generally treacherous conditions greeted them. It looked like only the toughest player would be able to make it through. But when play started on Thursday morning, the weather had suddenly improved. The rain and wind were gone, and players who had spent all weeks honing their shots in preparation for bad conditions found themselves in a bind. While some players took advantage of the good conditions, many others struggled, and most of the Koreans were in the latter group. Indeed, by the end of the day, it had proved to be one of the most disappointing days for the Koreans as a group all year. There were isolated highlights, but basically the results were a real disappointment.

Se Ri Pak was one of those who struggled. She played decently for the front nine, but on the back nine, she started making bogies and couldn't stop. By the end of her round she had carded a dismal 78. To put this in perspective, she had shot no worse than 74 even at the US Women's Open, where the conditions were the hardest the ladies had faced all year. Except for her two 74's at that event, she had not shot anything more than 2 over par in the previous three months. Even when she had some driving issues at the Evian the previous week, she still shot back to back 70's on the weekend. What in the world had happened?

The answer came the next day, when Se Ri informed the tournament officials that she had to drop out of the event. It turned out that she had injured her neck thanks to the hard ground at Lytham, and also was struggling with sharp pains in one of her arms. She had toyed with the idea of continuing, but in the end thought better of it. And so, for the second straight year, Se Ri had journeyed to England only to drop out after the first round. Only this year, when she was playing so well, it was a much worse disappointment.

Of course, the tournament was not being too kind to Major winners and challengers in general. Karrie Webb, who had just won the Evian Masters the week before for her third win of 2006, and who had won the first Major of the year, struggled even more than Se Ri had. She shot a 76 in round one, but in round 2 produced one of the worst rounds of her career (perhaps her very worst), a ten over par 82 that caused her to miss the cut by a mile. And this from a woman who had won the British Open several times in her career.

The Korean round one results were bad top to bottom. Kimmie also shot a 78 on day one, and was in danger of missing the cut for the fourth straight year. Young Kim, who had finished third the previous year, shot a mind boggling 81. Hee-Won Han, who was showing signs of coming out of her slump at Evian, shot an 80. Even Michelle Wie, who had finished in the top five in her previous four Majors, started the week with a lackluster 74. And Jeong Jang, the defending champion, who loves playing this event perhaps more than any other Korean, shot her own 78. Christina Kim was one of the few bright spots, the only Sister to shoot under par on day one when she carded a 71. But she was a big exception to the sad rule. In just one round, almost every major Korean player had knocked themselves out of the running for the title.

Meanwhile, the leader was 46 year old Juli Inkster. It seemed somehow fitting that Inkster would rise to the top of the leaderboard in this year where Hall of Fame golfers had won the first three Majors. If she were to capture the title, then 2006 would amazingly mirror 2002. In that season, she, Se Ri, Annika and Webb had won the four Majors. Now, with Webb, Se Ri and Annika holding the first three Majors, and Inkster leading the fourth, the coincidence seemed eerie.

Inkster struggled a bit more in round two, particularly with her accuracy off the tee, but she still managed an even par 72, which was good enough to allow her to maintain a three shot lead. The Korean women continued to be no shows, however. Mi Hyun Kim followed her 78 with a 75 and missed the cut at this tournament yet again. It might behoove her to practice links style golf, since this is the only tournament where she misses the cut so often (usually she is a money making machine, and several times in her career, her only missed cut of a season came at this event). Meena Lee followed her first round 77 with another one to also miss the cut. Also leaving without a paycheck was Young Kim; even a relatively decent second round 73 was not enough to get her back over the cut line after her first round 81. Gloria Park and Aree Song also had the weekend off.

But Hee-Won Han rallied mightily and did manage to squeak past the cut, as did defending champion Jeong Jang. Han had shot an 80 in round one, remember. On day two, she improved that by nine shots, carding a one under par 71 to finish at 7 over par and make the cut on the number, the total JJ also finished the day at. Seon Hwa Lee struggled to a 77, but made the cut on the number as well; she has yet to miss the cut in her rookie year. Also making the cut was the amateur sensation from Australia, Amy Yang. She had been invited to play in the tournament due to her winning the ANZ Ladies Masters in Australia at the beginning of the year. In so doing, the 16 year old became the youngest golfer to ever win an event on a major golf tour. Her total after two days was 6 over par. Though she would never come anywhere close to contending this week, she would go on to finish as the low amateur in the competition, which was certainly a great achievement considering it was her first ever Major.

Unfortunately, there were precious few Koreans near the top of the leaderboard even as day two ended. The top Korean was Il Mi Chung, who shot a one under par 71 to move into a tie for 7th, five shots behind Inkster. But Chung had not shown that she is able to stay in contention in an event through four days. Even with her current position, she had to be considered a long shot to contend. Behind her was Christina Kim at even par. Kim has had an up and down season in 2006, but perhaps her time had come to send a message. Rookie Kyeong Bae was at 2 over after back to back 73s, as was Joo Mi Kim. All of these women would have to play magnificently if they were to be factors on the weekend. Michelle Wie, meanwhile, shot a second 74, although in reality it was a 72 with a two stroke penalty. The penalty was incurred when she accidentally touched her club down in a bunker on one hole. So she sat at 4 over, and looked doubtful to continue her top ten streak.