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Volume 5, Number 2, April 25, 2007 | |||||||||||||||
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Slammed! |
Pages 1,
2, 3, Gallery1, Gallery2, Exclusives, Results |
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2007 Kraft Nabisco Championship | |||||||||||||||
In the afternoon, Shi Hyun (pictured) played her round. She started on the back nine on day two. On the par five 11th, she put her second shot into some tough rough, but hit a nice pitch out to about five feet past the hole. She made that putt to move to 5 under and the outright lead. But the lead did not last long. On the next hole, she missed the fairway and was forced to punch it out of the rough; she made bogey to fall back to 4 under. On the very next hole, she again missed the fairway, and ended up in the deep grass near the cart path. Once again she punched out to about 40 yards short of the green. Her approach was not very good, and she two putted for a second bogey to fall out of her share of the lead. Even worse, she had some of the hardest holes on the course ahead of her. Would she be able to recover from her sudden slump? On the par 3 14th, she hit a mediocre tee shot, but still landed on the green and was able to save par. On the ultra narrow 15th hole, she hit a fabulous drive, and her approach got her to within about fifteen feet. But she was not able to make birdie from there. On the next hole, she put her drive once again in the right rough, and had no shot to the green from there, so once again she had to punch out. Her third shot was just a little pitch, but it only barely hit the green. She made a crushing double bogey there after missing a very short bogey putt, and looked like she was on her way to falling out of the competition entirely. But Ahn fought back after that, making a birdie on the par 5 18th (her
eagle putt from 50 feet came up half a foot short) to move back to 2 under.
She then made three more birdies and two bogies on the front nine (her
second nine holes of the day) to finish her day at 3 under total, just
one shot out of the lead. Ochoa had that lead, and was tied with Paula
Creamer, who had just finished an amazing round of her own (a 5 under
par 67) to get to that point.
The cut ended up falling at 9 over par, but despite that, a number of
Korean stars were not around for the weekend. Kimberly Kim, the 15 year
old amateur star, was at 10 over par after Friday's action and went home.
As mentioned previously, Seon Hwa Lee missed her first cut since joining
the tour, also with a 10 over total, and Birdie Kim joined her on the
sidelines. Meena Lee and Sung Ah Yim were two more notable Sisters who
missed out. On the positive side, the KLPGA stars were both playing well.
Hee Young Park (pictured above) shot a 2 over par 74 for a +3 total, still
well in the tournament. Ji Yai Shin played better, shooting an even par
round on Friday to sit at 4 over total. Grace Park and Soo-Yun Kang were
also at 4 over.
By the middle of Saturday's round, Shi Hyun had again charged to the lead, thanks to birdies on holes 4, 5 and 11 versus just one bogey. She sat at 5 under. But right behind her at 4 under were Ochoa, Creamer, Suzann Pettersen and Se Ri Pak, who was one of her playing partners for the day. Two Korean stars in prime position to possibly win the first Major of the year, with both Sorenstam and Webb effectively out of it. For Pak in particular, it looked like a golden opportunity: at that point in the contest, she had more Major wins than all the other people in the top ten COMBINED. Se Ri was doing what she needed to do. She was hitting the ball long
and for the most part straight, putting the ball on the green and giving
herself a number of birdie tries. She was unfortunately not making as
many putts as she would have liked, but otherwise everything was going
swimmingly. On the 13th hole, after a perfect drive, she hit a great iron
that almost went into the hole on the fly. Her putt put her into a tie
for the lead with Ahn at 5 under par.
Pak and Ahn (pictured) had to fight again for par on 16, but Shi Hyun
failed to make it, while Se Ri did. On the par 3 17th, Se Ri hit what
looked like a perfect tee shot, but it hit a ridge or something en route
to the flag and ended up rolling into some high rough near the green.
A truly rotten break for her, which was compounded when her next shot
hit another ridge and rolled back away from the flag, so that her third
shot was actually farther away from the flag than her second had been!
Fortunately, she two putted for bogey to avoid too terrible a hit on this
hole. Ahn made double bogey there to fall to 1 under for the tournament.
But Lorena Ochoa, who played the hole next, would probably have taken
either result over the one she was about to have. On day one, it was Sorenstam
who had fallen, on day two Webb. Now it was Ochoa's turn to go belly up,
and she imploded in a major way on this hole. It started with a bad tee
shot that nicked a tree, followed by an ill advised approach that flew
the green into the rough beyond. After whiffing the third shot, she hit
the fourth shot well past the hole. She ended up with a quadruple bogey
7 from which she never fully recovered. Se Ri's chances were looking better
all the time.
Se Ri putted next, on the same line as Ahn but a foot closer, and obviously she had been watching Shi Hyun, because her putt was on the perfect line. If anything, it looked like it would not reach the hole, because it crawled along at a snail's pace, getting closer and closer as if in slow motion. Finally, it dropped in the hole on the final roll for a birdie! The crowd went wild, and Se Ri now found herself tied for the lead again with Creamer at 4 under. Creamer was playing in the group behind Se Ri, but bogied the final hole to fall to 3 under. Se Ri ended the day tied for the lead with Suzann Pettersen. Tied for the lead. Se Ri had played this event ten times, and had never been anywhere near this close to possibly winning it. Everything was lining up her way. Ochoa, Webb and Sorenstam had fallen well off the pace. No one in the top ten had ever won a Major before except her. She would be in the final group, with a share of the lead. When Se Ri had taken a share of the lead into the final day of a 72 hole LPGA event, she had NEVER LOST. And this was the kind of course that was tailor made to her game. She might never have a better chance to win this Major than right here and now. There was only one more day to go. At stake: Se Ri could etch her name on one of the most elite lists in women's golf. Only six players have ever won the career Grand Slam, every one of them a Hall of Famer. Webb, Sorenstam and Inkster were the ones who did it in her era, and considering how her name has been associated with those three champions for the last decade, it would make things really complete if she were to join them in this accomplishment. But: there was still one more day to go. |
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