Christina's World

Another player at 7 under was Korean rookie Jin Young Pak. There are numerous Korean rookies on tour in 2007, plus several more players with Korean heritage. One look at the Rookie of the Year standings will show just how successful these ladies have been: they dominate that category, with more than half of the players in the top ten being either Korean or of Korean heritage, including the top four. But even with so much success for these rookies, there have been several Korean rookies who have not done so well in 2007. Jin Young Pak is one of them. She joined the Futures Tour fresh out of high school back in 2005, and immediately won her first event. She stayed on that tour through 2006, then acquired a conditional LPGA card at tour school. But in 2007, she has been plagued by injuries that have prevented her from playing many events. When she has played, she has had some success. She was in contention at the Jamie Farr earlier in the year, even being paired in the final group Saturday with fellow Pak, Se Ri. But despite her sporadic success, she has not been able to play well enough (or often enough) to secure an exempt card for 2008. And so, she has plugged on. After two rounds, she was in great shape at the State Farm. But she would have a lot of trouble on the weekend, shooting 78-77 to plummet down near the bottom of the leaderboard. She would not earn much money at this event. Her trouble was compounded at the next event, the Northwest Arkansas Championship. There, she was in contention after one round, but the event ended early and no official money was granted. Had they counted the money, she would have had her first career top five, and probably enough money to secure her exempt status. Such is the life of a tour player sometimes.

Several other rookies did well on the first two days. Jane Park is a Korean American who has also had difficulty finding her way on tour. After two days she was tied for 11th at 5 under par. On Friday, she shot a 66, one of her best rounds of the year, to move her to within sight of her first top ten. Rookie of the Year leader Angela Park (pictured above) also sat at 5 under, while Jin Joo Hong was at 4 under par. But for the moment, everyone was looking up at Sherri Steinhauer.

On Saturday, Christina Kim went out strong, with two early birdies, and moved to 11 under total. Steinhauer had a bogey on her first hole and another on the tenth to drop to 9 under. With Angela Park moving up the leaderboard to 8 under, and Mi Hyun Kim also at 8 under, suddenly there were several Korean golfers right in the thick of the action. Christina kept fighting to maintain that lead; she made a five foot par save on the 9th hole, for instance, pumping her fist before the ball was even half way there. Meanwhile, Angela Park hovered around the 8 under mark much of the back nine. She made a bogey on the 12th, got it back with a birdie on 16, and finished her round with a three under par 69, which put her at 8 under total. Mi Hyun Kim got to 9 under par with a birdie on the par 5 13th, and looked like she was right in the battle. But then she made a double bogey on 15 and a bogey on 17, and she was never in contention again.

Christina continued to lead, finally reaching the 13th with a chance for a birdie and a two shot lead. But she made her first big mistake in a while when she babied the putt, leaving it a few feet short, then missed the par save to fall back to 10 under. Meanwhile, Steinhauer made a birdie, and with that two shot swing, Christina was now sharing the lead with the veteran American. Steinhauer made another birdie on the 14th, and just like that, she took over the lead from Christina. Steinhauer continued to hold the lead the rest of the day, finishing at 12 under total. Rachel Hetherington leapfrogged Christina to take second at 11 under, while Christina finished the day tied for third at 10 under. The only other Korean with a reasonable shot at the title was Angela Park, four shots out of the lead. Christina was determined to show the Solheim captains that they had made a mistake by not choosing her; at the very least, she wanted to establish a strong lead in the Solheim points contest for the 2009 contest. But so far, over three days, Sherri Steinhauer had steadfastly, if tenuously, held on to the lead. Would she make it a wire to wire win?

The final round proved to be every bit the exciting battle royale that the earlier rounds had promised. You had Steinhauer, the veteran, trying to win for the first time in a year; Christina Kim, hoping to keep her good momentum going, and trying to prove a point; Sorenstam, fighting to get her own first win in a year; and Rookie sensation Angela Park. Also in the mix was a surprising name: Jeong Jang. JJ started the day well back of the leaders, but played like a woman on a mission on Sunday. She had three birdies on the front nine, then added a birdie at 12 to move to 8 under. She then made three more birdies in a row from holes 15 - 17 and made a great par save on 18 to preserve her 7 under par 65. In the end, she moved all the way to 11 under total and a solo sixth place finish. Joo Mi Kim, a player who has not been all that consistent so far in her career, has been showing signs of improvement of late. She shot a final round 69 to move to 10 under par and a tie for 7th, just behind JJ.

Another player who had a fantastic, unprecedented tournament was yet another rookie who had heretofore struggled: Jeanne Cho-Hunnicke (pictured). Jeanne was a non-exempt player on tour, although she had just missed securing her exempt status at Q-School in 2007. Cho-Hunnicke is rather better known than most of the Korean rookies on tour, but not because of her play. She is known because she participated in a reality show called the Big Break on the Golf Channel in 2006. In fact, she not only participated, she finished runner up in the end. But her rookie year on tour had been a hard one: in the previous seven events she had played on tour, she had made the cut only once, and there she had only finished tied for 66th. But something was just working in her game at the State Farm. She not only made the cut, but she was on course for her career best finish entering Sunday. On that day, she played far better than even in her first three days, carding a 6 under par 66 that included three straight birdies at one point. She wound up finishing tied for 18th, by far the best finish of her career. Other Koreans who also managed top 20s include Mi Hyun Kim, Sung Ah Yim and Jin Joo Hong.

By the middle of the action Sunday, Steinhauer had established a two shot lead at 14 under par, with Christina at 12 under and a bunch of players at 11 under, including Angela Park and Sorenstam. Any one of those players, should she get hot, could take the title. Christina made a birdie on the par 5 13th to move to 13 under, but Sorenstam made an eagle on that same hole to move into a tie with her. They both still trailed Steinhauer. Neither Sorenstam nor Christina were in the final group, but they were both playing together, and to a certain extent, Christina was treating this match up like her own private Solheim Cup. Sorenstam was, after all, the greatest player on the European squad; and so far on this day, Christina was playing every bit as well as she was. But unfortunately, she needed to beat Steinhauer as well as Sorenstam to take the trophy, and at the moment, that still seemed tough to do. Steinhauer made it tougher by making birdie on the 11th hole to extend her lead, at the time, to three shots. Steinhauer had another very short birdie try on the 12th, but missed that one and had to settle for par. Her lead shrunk to two shots with the heroics by Sorenstam and Kim on the par five.

It was interesting to watch Kim and Sorenstam duke it out on the last few holes. For one thing, Kim was hitting it noticeably longer than her Swedish rival. Once upon a time, Annika had been one of the very longest women on the tour, but her injuries had definitely reduced her distance off the tee. They both made par on the par 3 14th, then parred the 15th as well. However, Steinhauer was staying put for the moment at 15 under, so they still trailed her by two. They were running out of holes.

It was at this time that Christina launched one of the most impressive runs we have been privileged to see on the LPGA tour this year. If Steinhauer were going to win this thing, she was going to make her earn it. It started on the 16th hole. Christina put her second shot on this par 5 into the bunker, but hit a wonderful shot out to make a short birdie putt there and finally move to 14 under, just a shot out of the lead. Sorenstam also made birdie there to move to 14 under. A few minutes later, Steinhauer hit her approach into the same bunker, but unlike Christina, she hit a weak bunker shot, not even reaching the green.

Meanwhile, on the 17th hole, a par three, the flag was up front on this day. Sorenstam hit her tee shot to the right, missing the green, while Christina hit hers to the left, also missing the green. Sorenstam scrambled for par. Then it was Christina's turn: she hit her chip and, amazingly, watched as it rolled right into the bottom of the cup for birdie. The roar the gallery let out, coupled with Christina's own enthusiastic cheer, could be heard in the next county. Christina had finally caught Steinhauer. But just a few minutes later, Steinhauer somehow made the twenty foot birdie putt from the fringe to once again regain the lead. Christina could not seem to get a break.

Next up was the final hole, the 18th. This was a tricky hole, with a lot of danger around the approach. Christina hit a good drive, but her second shot carried the green and ended up in the fringe, 25 feet from the hole. Birdie was going to take some doing. Meanwhile, Steinhauer's tee shot on the 17th came close to going in, but rolled a good fifteen feet past the hole. Christina and Steinhauer wound up taking their putts at almost the exact same time, and the results were identical: both made birdie from extremely tough places. Christina jumped three feet in the air and pumped her fist, but had no way of knowing that she was only tied with Steinhauer for an instant before Steinhauer retook the lead on 17. Still, she had put together a fantastic finish to the tournament, and Steinhauer still had to play the nasty 18th, where anything could happen.

Christina watched as Steinhauer played the final hole. She hit a good drive, but her approach was a bit right, heading towards the water. It was close, but it stayed dry, ending up in the same bunker JJ had been in an hour earlier. Steinhauer did not hit a very good sand shot, hitting the ball all the way into the fringe beyond the flag. If Steinhauer were to make that improbable putt, she would win; but she HAD to at least two putt, or she would lose, and from where she was, that was no guarantee. Steinhauer stepped up to the putt and, just like she had on the two previous holes, drained another 20 foot putt to make par and win the tournament. Christina had come oh so close, but in the end, the player who had led the three previous days came out on top. To show what class she has, Christina went up to Steinhauer and gave her a strong bear hug to congratulate her. She may not have won the tournament, but she made her point: no American was playing hotter at that point than Christina Kim, with back to back second place finishes. One can only hope she does not depend on the Solheim Captain to pick her in the future, but rather keeps up that level of golf and earns her way onto the team.

In the end, it probably did not matter who the Captain's picks were for the Solheim. Even though the event was taking place in Europe, the Europeans were thoroughly overmatched, and with several of their best players, including Sorenstam, having subpar seasons, they were easily defeated by the American squad. But whether the Solheim was a rout or close, whether it was in Europe or America, you can bet that Christina Kim wanted to be there. She showed she belonged on the squad with her play in the past few weeks; and if she can keep that level of intensity going the next couple of years, she will doubtless be one of the stars on the team in 2009.