2006 Safeway Classic

The 16th hole was JJ's shining moment on the first nine. She hit a frankly terrible tee shot on this uphill par 3 when a train whistle went off as she hit. It veered right, and it looked like she would be behind one of the huge trees over there. But it turned out she was near the green, in front of a massive bunker. Not an easy situation, though: the rough was deep, and she was short sided. So how did she handle it? She hit a spectacular flop shot that stopped on a dime one foot from the hole. Easy par. Now THAT was impressive.

At that point I saw Kimmie walk by on 15. She was at one under par. An enormous crowd was following them; she was paired with Natalie Gulbis and Morgan Pressel on this day, which explained the mobs.

On 17 JJ was again nearly perfect: perfect drive, approach to 15 feet, putt to the lip, tap in par. 18 was also routine. She was playing really well, and it seemed like she might be a factor come Sunday. She ended up shooting a 69 on the day, which definitely put her in the hunt, at least for the moment.

Next I walked over to watch Joo Mi Kim, who was playing with Amy Hung the first two rounds. In the group behind these two were two rookies I had never seen play live before, Jee Young Lee and Sun Young Yoo. Joo Mi was dressed fetchingly in a bright blue blouse and white pants. She was playing well, but Hung was not. While Joo Mi made a routine par on the par 3 8th, Hung hit her tee shot in the water, had to walk all the way back to the drop zone after a ruling, and generally made a mess of things. I stayed to watch Jee Young and Sun Young play the hole. I can tell you right now what Yoo's problem is: putting. Tee to green she was pretty sharp. But she had at least three three putts while I was watching, and missed all those par saves from within three feet. She has got to work on that if she wants to go to the next level.

OK, so now the good stuff. Long bomber Jee Young reached the par 4 ninth, a longish hole. But instead of hitting a driver, she gets out a 3 wood. Too bad, as I was hoping to see how far she hit her driver. CRACK! She annihilates a drive, long, long, long, dead straight. 280 yards. With a three wood. But she only made par here.

And that's the last time I was able to say THAT for a while, because Jee Young caught fire like you wouldn't believe, and I got to watch it all! Her next seven holes were among the most impressive I have ever witnessed. On 10, the par 5, she takes out what looked like a 7 wood for her tee shot. Then KAPOW! High, long, straight. The gallery in the bleachers at ten gasped. I've never heard that sound before at this tournament! Turns out she hit that tee shot 250 yards, outdriving her two partners, who both hit driver. Just incredible.

To add insult to injury, she hit the 7 wood again and, despite being 250 yards out, reached the green. She wasn't close to the flag, but two putted for birdie. Yoo did it the old fashioned way, hitting her third to three feet and making birdie that way.

On 11, Jee Young's tee shot was great, but her approach bounded off the back of the green. They had to move some wires so she could strike her ball. She then hit a perfect chip, and it found the bottom of the cup. She had a big, cute, almost sheepish, smile after that!

On the par 5 12, she hit her drive right into the trees. She hit her second into a greenside bunker, then got it up and down for another birdie. On 13, she hit a great iron to about 8 feet, and dropped that birdie in. At this point she was at 5 under and had taken the solo lead. Joo Mi, in the group right ahead of Jee Young, was in second! I just couldn't abandon Jee Young, but I had to see what was happening with Joo Mi! So I scooted up to the 15th green to watch Joo Mi, and thus missed Jee Young making yet another birdie on 14 (this one was from about 15 feet).

Well, it was worth it, because Joo Mi had a virtual tap in birdie after a great iron on 15. She moved to 5 under. Then Jee Young hit her own laser on 15 to a few feet for a birdie. 7 under par. It was at this point I realized that she had made 6 straight birdies. I wonder if she knew?

On 16, Lee hit yet another brilliant iron to about three feet for an easy birdie. That made seven in a row. I told the marshal at the hole, and after she teed off on 17 and I walked back past him, he shouted out, 'Is she in the fairway?' He was really into her quest for eight straight!!

On 17, she was in the fairway, and her approach was maybe a foot from perfect. But as it was, it rolled off the top tier to about thirty feet from the flag. A super tough birdie try. But darn if she didn't almost make it. Her line was perfect but her speed was just two rolls short. Her tap in par was her first since the 9th hole. She also parred 18, again just missing a birdie. Still, her 29 on the back gave her the first round lead by the end of the day. She made the tough back nine on this course look easy, and did it without hitting so much as a single driver.

In the afternoon, I watched Meena Lee and Kyeong Bae make a mess on 18, and not play much better on 1. I then located the defending champion, Soo-Yun Kang, who was playing the par 3 13th. She didn't look too happy, even though she hit a pretty good tee shot. I soon found out why: she was 6 over par! Oh dear. I guess she's really not yet ready to come back from her troubles. I stayed to watch Hee-Won Han play there (and Creamer make a birdie). Seon Hwa Lee was next, but she made par. She looked nice in a green top and short shorts. I followed her for a hole, but then I saw Christina Kim on the 17th tee about to tee off. She was at 6 under, closing in on Jee Young's lead. So I stayed to watch. And she hit a dog of a drive, one of the worst I've ever seen. It plopped off left into the trees and dropped straight down, maybe 100 yards from the tee (and I'm being generous here). She was under a big tree, in deep rough, with miles to go on this deadly hole. But she hit a nice rescue (after yelling at Rosie Jones to get out of the way; she was standing in the fairway up ahead, covering the action for the Golf Channel). Christina then hit a superlative pitch from about 60 yards to a few feet and saved par. As she walked to the 18th tee, she jokingly told Rosie to" try and stand more in the way next time". Rosie laughed and apologized.

Christina wound up shooting a 66, which left her in second place after the first round. With Jee Young Lee in first place and Mi Hyun Kim tied for fourth at 5 under, the Korean women got off to a great start this week. Others on the top of the board included Joo Mi Kim, who shot a 4 under par 68. Joo Mi finished 4th at this event in 2005, so she obviously loves this course. And then there was JJ. She had told me earlier how much she likes this course, and her two second place finishes were proof of that. She picked up right where she left off with a 3 under par 69 that put her into contention for her much coveted win.

After Christina was done, I worked my way over to watch Hana Kim. Hana has struggled since becoming a pro, and had missed the cut here in her rookie year. But wonders of wonders, she was 3 under par when I reached her! She made two more pars on the holes I saw and got into the house with a solid 69 that put her into a tie for 16th. If she could keep playing at that level, she could be in for the best tournament of her career.

Day 2 of the Safeway Classic was much like day one: pleasant in the morning, much hotter as the day progressed. This would prove to be a tougher day for the Korean Kontingent than day one had been, but there were highlights on this day nonetheless.

I got to the course at 7:30 AM so I could follow Hana Kim, who was playing in the first group to tee off on the first tee that morning.. I actually got there when Soo Young Moon was teeing off hole 1, and saw her hit it tight on the par 3 2nd. I reached Hana at the fourth hole, and saw her lip out a really short birdie try.

This was a good chance for me to get to watch Hana for the first time. From what I can see, she's pretty solid tee to green, and a little worse in her short game. But not too bad. Based on what I saw, I'm surprised she hasn't had better results, but as she told me herself, she feels it's hard to get a run going when you don't know when you are playing your next event (Hana is a conditional player on tour). I would expect her to be a nice solid top 50 pro sometime soon if she keeps playing like she did while I watched. She has that potential.

On the par 5 7th, she got to ten yards in front of the green in two, then chipped five feet past the hole and made the birdie. She moved to 4 under, which at the time was 4th place.

After she teed off on 8, I moved to the 11th hole, which is right next to the 8th tee. Soo-Yun Kang was teeing off. She didn't look very happy, and was smoking like a chimney while she waited for the fairway to clear. I glanced at her scoreboard and discovered that she had double bogeyed the par 5 10th. Good drive here, though.