2007 HSBC Women's World Match Play:
Matchless

Another interesting matchup featured the two longest drivers on the LPGA tour, Jee Young Lee and Karin Sjodin. It was a close match, too, despite the fact that Jee Young has had a better career to date than Sjodin. In fact, with three holes to play, Sjodin had a one up lead. But Lee won two of the next three holes, including a birdie on the par 5 18th, to claim the one up win.

The other top ranked Koreans generally won as well, although some of them had to work hard to get there. Se Ri Pak (pictured), at #5 the top ranked Seoul Sister in the field, had a surprisingly tough time with 60th ranked Beth Bader, finally putting her away on the final hole with a birdie. Mi Hyun Kim had no such problems with Wendy Doolan, blowing her away 5 & 4. Jeong Jang had a pretty easy time beating Marisa Baena, the 2005 champion, winning 3 & 2. Shi Hyun Ahn, however, lost her tough opening round match against Australian Rachel Hetherington 2 & 1. The top ranked Korean not playing on the LPGA tour, Ji Yai Shin, came into the event having recently finished top ten at the US Women's Open. But she struggled against Janice Moodie, making a birdie on the final hole to force the match into extra holes. Moodie beat her on the first playoff hole with a birdie, however.

There were four Korean rookies in the field. The top ranked rookie this year has been Korean-Brazilian Angela Park, and she was also one of the top match play Koreans in the field based on her recent amateur record. She was matched with Silvia Cavalleri in round one, and looked on her way to a blow out victory when she took a four up lead. But Cavalleri fought back, winning holes 13, 14, 16 and 17 to square the match before Park eked out a final hole win to take it one up. It was a very close win after such a dominating lead. In-Bee Park found herself matched against Major winner Suzann Pettersen, but actually played a great match against her. They were all square after 18 holes, but Pettersen won on the 19th hole with a birdie. Na On Min did not get nearly that close; her match was a blowout loss to last year's British Open winner Sherri Steinhauer.

The fourth rookie in the field was In-Kyung Kim, who was part of one of the two Korean-Korean matchups on day one. She was paired against Young Kim (pictured), who had proved herself a formidable match play golfer at the Lexus Cup in 2006. This match went down to the wire, with Young taking the lead for good on the 16th hole and holding on for a one shot win. In the other Korean-Korean match, Sarah Lee bested Il Mi Chung.

The biggest upset for a Korean on day one came when Hye Jung Choi pretty much dominated her match against one of the toughest American match play golfers in history, Juli Inkster. Choi ended up winning 4 & 3. But Seon Hwa Lee, one of the top Korean match players, had her hands full with unheralded Diana D'Alessio. Indeed, D'Alessio was 3 up with four holes to play, and it looked like Lee was going to make an early exit. But she rallied in a major way, reeling off four consecutive wins over the next four holes to win her match one up. Lee survived a scare, and would become stronger as a result.

All in all, eleven of the 21 Korean golfers from round one made it to the round of 32, including most of the top guns. The odds looked good that at least a few would go deep into the tournament.

In most match play events, there are a few upsets of top players by lower ranked opponents, and that certainly happened here. But by the time the second round, played on Friday, was over, the roster of the defeated looked like a who's who of the top players in the game. Amazingly, the highest ranked player to advance to round three was #10 Mi Hyun Kim. Every player above her, including Paula Creamer, Lorena Ochoa, Annika Sorenstam, Karrie Webb and Cristie Kerr, went down to defeat. It was doubtless a nightmare for CBS, who would be televising the tournament on the weekend.

Among those who fell in round two was the top ranked Korean golfer, #5 Se Ri Pak. She was matched against Korean American Christina Kim (pictured), and seemed to struggle right from the outset to keep up. After falling three down at the turn, she rallied with two wins to pull to within a hole of catching her opponent. But at that point everything went wrong for Pak, and she lost the final three holes they played to lose the match 4 & 3. Definitely a disappointment after her incredible play at the Farr the week before, and even more of a disappointment because she had decided to skip the next event on the tour, the Evian Masters, to prepare for the British Open. She would have a longer break before that event than she had anticipated.

There were two other matches between Korean stars on this day. Mi Hyun Kim became the only player in the top ten to advance to round three when she beat #23 Sarah Lee in a closely contested match. Kim moved ahead of Lee on the 13th hole, then solidified her lead with a win on the 16th hole. She wound up triumphing 2 & 1. The other all-Sister match featured Jeong Jang against Angela Park. This match was also close most of the day, with JJ pulling ahead after winning the 15th and 16th holes. She also won 2 & 1. She later commented that she had played poorly all day and had gotten lucky that Park had made two mistakes on those two holes to allow her to win.

The two biggest upsets among the Koreans in round one were pulled off by Birdie Kim and Hye Jung Choi. Both of them, however, fell in their second round matches. Birdie lost to longtime British star Laura Davies, who eked out a 2 & 1 win. Choi was crushed by Angela Stanford 5 & 4. The two stars of the Lexus Cup, Young Kim and Seon Hwa Lee, had different experiences in round two. Lee faced Janice Moodie, who had beaten Ji Yai Shin in extra holes on day one. Lee had little trouble, winning three of the first six holes and cruising to a 5 & 4 win. Young, meanwhile, found herself in a tight battle against another upset winner, Amy Hung, who had beaten US Women's Open champ Cristie Kerr in round one. Their match was tight for a while, but Hung took a 3 up lead as holes ran out on the back nine. It looked like she had the win wrapped up, but Kim fought back, winning holes 16 and 17 to move to one down with one to play. Young needed a birdie on that final hole to advance in all likelihood, but she was only able to make par, and Hung squeaked through with a one up win.

The last Korean to advance was long hitting Jee Young Lee, who played her match against Nicole Castrale. Lee took a 2 up lead, and every time Castrale reduced that lead a tad, Lee responded with a win to bump it up again. Jee Young won the match 4 & 2. Thus, after two rounds, five of the remaining 16 players, more than a quarter, were Koreans. Furthermore, three of the remaining players were Jee Young Lee, Jeong Jang and Mi Hyun Kim, three of the top ranked Koreans in the competition. With so many of the top players already eliminated, the Koreans were really sitting pretty as the weekend action began.

Saturday would see the completion of the third and fourth rounds of the competition. The first match of round three pitted Christina Kim against Japanese star Ai Miyazato. Whatever magic Christina had found the first two days had abandoned her at the end of the day, although she kept it close. She wound up losing 2 & 1, however.

Seon Hwa Lee (pictured) was matched against Laura Davies, who had beaten Birdie Kim the day before. The two players had an interesting history. At the Lexus Cup, Davies and teammate Brittany Lincicome had been walloped by Lee and Young Kim in one of the team matches, 6 & 5. The match on this day was much closer, but as she had done on Friday, Lee grabbed a 2 up lead early and never relinquished it. She increased the lead to three up on the back nine, then squared hole after hole to prevent Davies from making a comeback. Lee wound up winning 2 & 1, advancing to the afternoon's quarterfinal matches.

Lee awaited the winner of the match between JJ and Australian Lindsey Wright. On paper, this looked like a big advantage for the Little Giant, and Jang in fact won the first two holes to take an early lead. But Wright erased that lead soon after, and they remained square for much of the rest of the round. Still square on the par three 17th, Wright essentially won the match when she made birdie on that hole. They both made par on the final par 5 hole, and Wright eliminated JJ to move on to face Seon Hwa Lee.