2007 SBS Open:
Slow Start for the Seoul Sisters

By the end of round two when the cut came, most of the Koreans in the field had fallen out of touch with the leaders. Among the rookies, Irene Cho stumbled to a 2 over 74 that knocked her down to a tie for 20th. McKenzie had an even worse stumble, a 4 over par round, and ended up tied with Cho. Angela Park, meanwhile, made her presence felt. She shot a one under par 71 to move into a tie with Cho and McKenzie. Those three were the low rookies in the field.

The big guns in the Rookie class were not faring so well. Ji Young Oh continued to play poorly and missed the cut by a mile. Ditto Song-Hee Kim; it was the first missed cut of her pro career. In-Kyung Kim was still stalled at one over par, as was Ji Yai Shin; not terrible, but nothing to write home about.

Meanwhile, Se Ri Pak played a good deal better on Friday, but was still not playing all that well. She shot a one over par 73 to finish the two days at 4 over. At the time she completed her second round, the probable cut was 2 over par. It seemed highly unlikely that she would make the cut. But as the day continued, players started to struggle with the worsening conditions. One of the last players in the field, Christina Kim, made a bogey late in her round that caused the cut to move to 4 over for the first time all day. Thus, Se Ri literally made the cut by the skin of her teeth. She would take advantage of that on the final day.

Among the top players were a few familiar Korean names. Hee-Won continued her solid play with a second straight 69 to move to 6 under par, just one shot out of the lead held by Paula Creamer, Morgan Pressel and Sherri Steinhauer. She was in great position to win, but she has never been a particularly strong wind player, and the forecast called for even windier conditions on day three. Could she hang in there? Mi Hyun Kim (pictured with Karrie Webb) had done quite well on day one, but started her second day with a crushing quadruple bogey 8. She never quite recovered from that, and although she shot one under par the rest of the day, she finished 3 over on day two and one over total. Seon Hwa Lee shot her second straight 70 to move to 4 under, three shots back, but Jee Young Lee shot 2 over par to fall back out of contention. Sung Ah Yim, the Korean leader after day one, shot a 76 and was never heard from again.

So the situation going into the final round was a poor one for the Korean players. They were basically hoping that Han, Seon Hwa Lee or Jimin Kang would be able to rally in tough conditions and claim the crown. But they were up against some of the top Western players in the league, including Creamer, Ochoa, Webb, and Granada. It would be a tough chore.

The biggest and happiest surprise of the final day was that Se Ri showed up in a serious way. After barely making the cut and having no chance to win, it might be expected that she would phone it in on Saturday, which was the final day at this particular tournament. But to the contrary, she played brilliantly, showing once again that, when the conditions get tough, she gets better and better. She produced a three under par 69, the best round of the day, one of only two players to shoot in the 60s on Saturday (the other being Granada). She vaulted from 70th place at the start of her round to 17th by the end. That is what we call "Se Ri Fighting!"

The other notable performance came from In-Kyung Kim. Kim had been hovering around the top 40 all week, but had not really managed a great round yet. She shot a 72 on this day, not super great, but decent under the circumstances. It was good enough to give her a tie for 17th and the low rookie honors along with McKenzie. Angela Park struggled to a four over par round that knocked her out of the top 30, while Ji Yai Shin shot a 75 and fell to a tie for 40th, the worst performance in her career since she had turned pro. Both ladies had bigger and better results coming in the near future, however. In Shin's case, perhaps the travel had finally gotten to her. In the past month she had been to South Africa, Australia, and now Hawaii. For a player used to playing all her events in South Korea, traveling like that must take some getting used to.

That was pretty much it for the Korean highlights. Hee-Won Han (pictured) shot a 2 over par round and finished tied for 7th, the top Korean in the field. It was a bit disappointing, but she would have had to play very very well to beat Creamer, who wound up shooting a 70 and finishing at 9 under. Seon Hwa Lee had a terrible day and fell all the way out of the top ten. Thankfully, Jimin Kang's 73 allowed her to hang onto a spot in the top ten, giving the Koreans two top tens total. It was hardly the kind of start one would have expected, especially given the fact that two Koreans had finished in the top three the previous year, but given the talent the Sisters possess, it was bound to be a momentary hiccup in their march to greatness. On to the second Hawaiian event, the Fields Open, the following week!