2006 Safeway Classic

On Sunday, I got to the course around 9:30, and it was already pretty hot and sunny. I think this was the only day where we didn't have at least a few hours of mellow weather before the heat set in. The first group I followed was Meena Lee and Young Kim. They both had up and down days. On the first hole, Meena left her approach way down the green from the flag, maybe 40 feet. Young was 15 feet over the flag. Young just missed a birdie and tapped in, while Meena three putted. They both started the day at 2 under, but Meena fell to 1 under with that bogey.

But on the next hole it was Young who struggled. She hit her tee shot into the bunker, while Meena was tight on this par three. Meena birdied to move back to 2 under, while Young bogied. On hole three, Young put her approach closer than Meena, and made birdie to move back to 2 under. On 4, Meena left her approach short of the green. The flag was in the front right today. Between the flag and Meena was a mound. She landed her chip on top of the mound, and it trickled right next to the flag for a sweet little par save. Young had a ten footer for birdie, but missed it.

After I watched Young make a birdie on 5, I headed back to the first tee to catch Jee Young Lee teeing off. I just missed her, though. I watched the next few groups, including Kimmie, before Christina and Joo Mi got to the tee. As usual, Joo Mi greeted all the volunteers on the tee nicely with a smile. Joo Mi and Christina both started the day at 6 under par, one shot out of the lead.

Both Joo Mi and Christina hit their drives left, where they had tree trouble on their second shots. Joo Mi ran her second shot up the hill to the front of the green and two putted from 40 feet. Christina got her shot up in the air, flew it to about ten feet, but missed the birdie.

On the par 3 second, it was Joo Mi who got closer. But she wimped out on an 8 foot birdie try, and tapped in for par. She actually did that on several holes today; I think she needs to develop more backbone when it comes to hitting her birdie tries. Christina was about twice as far from the hole, but her putt charged at the hole, going three feet past. She made the par.

On the third hole, Joo Mi was again twice as close as Christina. This time she dunked the 10 foot birdie to move to 7 under. Christina again put her putt three feet past, but made the par.

On four, Christina left her approach in some deep rough near the green, but hit a simply excellent chip from there to inches. You couldn't even see her ball, that's how deep that stuff was. It was actually her easiest par putt of the day! Joo Mi had about ten feet again, and once again wimped out on the birdie, hitting it too softly. Par.

On the par 5 5th, Joo Mi hit a nice drive, but Christina hit a really aggressive one, cutting the dogleg near the lake (she shouted at that ball, believe me!) and getting considerably closer to the hole than Joo Mi. They both waited for the green to clear. Joo Mi's second came up short of the greenside bunker, but Christina got on in two! Joo Mi then hit a fairly weak pitch and two putted for par. Christina spent a loooong time sizing up her eagle try, which was about 30 feet. It seemed like there was a reason why she was taking so long, like she was waiting for a ruling, but she wasn't. Anyway, she two putted for birdie and moved to 7 under herself.

They waited a while on the 6th tee, and Christina tried to engage Joo Mi in conversation. Up until then they had said little to each other. Christina was trying her Korean. She sounded pretty good, although I could hear her American accent clearly (I could hear every word they were saying, but couldn't really understand it). Joo Mi seemed at times to not quite understand her, but was happy to talk to her.

They both hit bad drives here, though. Joo Mi went right, Christina into the fairway bunker on the left. From there, she left the ball some 50 yards short of the green, but hit a fantastic pitch from there that landed 6 feet past the hole and snapped back to three feet. She made par, and gave the gallery a nice fist pump. Joo Mi's approach wound up in the deep rough near the green. She hit a so so chip and could not save par.

If there's one thing Joo Mi needs to work on, it's her short game. Every time she missed the green while I watched her, she failed to get up and down. That and her tentative putting really killed her on this day.

By this time, Pat Hurst had seized the momentum. While Hee-Won Han, her playing partner, stumbled, Hurst made birdies on four of her first five holes to move to 10 under par. Joo Mi was at 6 under and Christina at 7 under, both still in the hunt; but they needed to take advantage of the coming par 5 and hope Hurst did not do the same.

On the par 5 7th tee there was an enormous backup; Gloria, Jee Young and Kimmie's groups were all still waiting there. So I went ahead to the green to watch them come in. I did witness Hurst make her bogey on six before I left, when she put her approach in a greenside bunker and short sided herself. She fell to 9 under.

Jee Young laid up big time off the tee on 7, and still was in the rough; she was really struggling with accuracy at this point. She hit a lackluster second, then pitched onto the green. Her ball landed four feet past the hole, but snapped all the way back to the front of the green. She wound up with par. Kimmie was next through. She looked as though she had hit a monster drive, but actually she was to that point in two shots. From there, she got onto the green and two putted.

Christina put her second shot into the greenside bunker. She had plenty of green to work with, and hit a swell sand shot that looked as though it would stop about three feet from the hole. But then it hit the hill and it, too, rolled all the way to the front of the green. Ouch! Par.

Next it was Joo Mi's turn, and she hit her second shot within ten feet. Great approach! But once again, she hit the putt way too lightly, never giving the eagle a chance. Tap in birdie, though, to move to 7 under, two shots out of the lead.

On 8, Joo Mi put her tee shot into a collection area behind the green. Sure enough, she failed to get up and down. I missed what Christina did. On 9, both ladies wound up in different bunkers in two. Christina's was closer, but she still didn't get it up and down. Joo Mi was in a bunker that was about 30 yards from the green. Really hard to get up and down from there, and she didn't. Once again, Joo Mi missed a green, and failed to make par.

Hurst was back up to 10 under, and the question remained: could any of the Korean ladies make a charge at her? Hee-Won was struggling, so it would not be her, and it seemed like Joo Mi and Christina were making too many mistakes. Perhaps Jee Young could rebound? When I got to the 12th hole she was at 8 under. She hit her second on this par 5 into the greenside bunker, hit a great out to a few feet and made birdie to move to 9 under, two shots behind Hurst, who birdied the 11th to move to 11 under. What a great story it would be if Jee Young could somehow get back into contention after leading, then losing the lead. But on 13 she hit her tee shot into the bunker behind the green. It's almost impossible to get the ball close from there. Indeed, she hit a good sand shot, but it rolled right off the front of the green. She hit her chip four feet past, then had a dicey bogey save, which she made. She had a good chance for birdie on 14, but left it a roll off, then hit her tee shot on 15 into the right rough.

I wonder if Carin Koch was affecting her? On 13, Koch hit a bad tee shot and got really upset, whacking her club against the ground multiple times and swearing (?) in Swedish. This was the third time I had seen Koch lose her temper this week, and I only saw her play six holes!

I noticed that Gloria Park, playing with Kim Saiki, was on the 16th green at 8 under. So I watched her make par there, but on 17 she hit her drive into trouble, and I realized she would not be a factor. She ended up bogeying her final two holes and finished at 6 under, good for a tie for 5th. Jee Young bogied the 15th to fall to 7 under. By now it seemed clear that her Cinderella story was not going to happen, either. She also finished tied for 5th.

At this point, there was only one Korean who still had a chance to stop the Hurst victory train, and that was Jeong Jang. JJ was playing in the final group with Candie Kung. She played well on the front nine, going two under to get to 9 under total. After making a tough birdie on 11, she moved to within just one shot of Hurst. Then Hurst amazingly bogied the par 5 12th, a hole where eagle was possible (indeed, she had made eagle there earlier in the week). For the first time in a while, a Korean sat atop the leaderboard: both JJ and Hurst were tied at 10 under, and JJ still had the par 5 12th to play.

But JJ wound up bogeying the 12th hole as well; She put her third shot into the bunker, and the flag was at the other end of the green this day. She hit a decent bunker shot, but left it ten feet short, and was not able to save par from there. So once again, Hurst had the lead. Shortly after that, Hurst made a birdie on 15 to move back to 11 under. Saiki finished the day at 9 under. So now the situation was clear: JJ needed birdies. And she could afford no more mistakes.

But she was not able to make a birdie on either 13 or 14. On 15, she left herself a lengthy birdie try which nearly went in, but she was forced to tap in for par. She now had three hard holes ahead of her. Meanwhile, Pat Hurst was playing the toughest hole on the course, the 17th. Out of bounds on the left, trees that blocked the green on the right (and if you hit far right, a water hazard). As if that wasn't bad enough, they had increased the length of the hole by twenty yards this year. But getting to the green was only half the challenge, for the extremely sloping three tiered green was one of the toughest on the course.

Hurst did manage to get on the green in regulation here, but put the ball on the wrong level, and three putted for bogey. She fell to 10 under, and once again, JJ was only one shot out of the lead. She had three more holes to go, but they were three of the toughest holes on the course; it would definitely be a challenge for her to make up the ground. The 16th hole is an uphill par three. The flag on this day was towards the right, requiring a player to carry a deep bunker if she aimed directly at it. JJ decided to aim more to the left, and thus got nowhere near the hole. She did, however, make par. Next came the challenging 17th. She hit a great drive here, but the ball ended up going too far, and left her with an unfortunately downhill stance for her second. Once again, she made par here. By this time, Hurst had finished her round with a par on 18, so the situation was now clear: if Jang could make a birdie on 18, she would tie Hurst and go to a playoff. Make par or worse, and she would be looking at potentially another runner up finish.

The driving on 18 is tough, but JJ hit a nice one right down the middle. She then followed that up with a great approach to about 15 feet, provoking a large cheer from the crowd in the stands surrounding the green. So now it all came down to one, very makeable, birdie putt. And she gave it a great run, but the putt just missed going in. And so, for the third time in her career, and second consecutive year, JJ collected a runner's up finish at this event, tying for second with Kim Saiki at 9 under par. Judging by her success on this course, sooner or later she has to get that trophy!

Meanwhile, the Koreans had a lot of success again this year, even if it was a step down from the top 5 sweep they had managed in 2005. Besides JJ's second, Gloria Park and Jee Young Lee tied for fifth, and Meena Lee, Mi Hyun Kim and Christina Kim tied for seventh. Hee-Won Han struggled in the final round to a 2 over par 74, but still finished tied for 14th, while Seon Hwa Lee and Joo Mi Kim both finished tied for 18th. Nine Koreans in the top twenty, and that was with defending champion Soo-Yun Kang struggling and Grace Park and Se Ri Pak absent. Certainly, it shouldn't be too long before we see the Koreans rise to the top in Portland again!