2007 Samsung World Championship

On the downside, Michelle Wie struggled again. Already hounded by controversy for even being in the field, she played the same type of golf she has been producing all year. This resulted in a 7 over par 79 and last place. She was playing with Angela Park, the co-leader, on this day, so the fans following this group got to witness quite a contrast in the two players. Wie was for the moment three shots behind Euro star Hauert for the 19th spot. Her struggles were far from over.

The field began to spread out a bit more in round two. Ochoa continued to play solidly, producing a 67 that moved her into the lead at 9 under. It was beginning to look like this event might be over already. But Angela Park (pictured) stuck in there, shooting her own 69 to move to 8 under, just a shot behind Ochoa. Park has had a fantastic rookie year, highlighted by two top fives in Majors (including a tie for second at the US Women's Open). But she still had not won a tournament (in fact, Park has yet to win any tournament since turning pro; she also went winless on the Futures Tour in 2006). No doubt, this was something she craved, but she would have to beat the top player on tour, on a course she had already won on, while she is playing some of the best golf of her career. It's never easy, is it?

JJ (pictured below) also had a strong second round, a 4 under par 68. She finally made her first bogey of the tournament when she missed a shortish par save on the 16th hole, but that came in the middle of a nice back nine run that included birdies on the 14th, par 5 15th, and 17th holes. Her total at that point was 7 under par. Kimmie was 6th by herself following a 70, while Jee Young Lee moved into a tie for 7th with Se Ri Pak at 4 under. So there was no shortage of Korean golfers on the upper half of the leaderboard, at least for now.

On the downside, Sarah Lee produced another even par round and sat tied for 16th, while Seon Hwa Lee shot a second straight 73 and was at 2 over par, in third to last place. Fortunately for her, she was still well ahead of the bottom two: Hauert shot an 81 to fall to a 13 over par total, while Wie continued to struggle with a second straight 79 that left her at 14 over par. Those two players would continue to duke it out for the last place finish the rest of the week. For Hauert, it might just be a case of being in over her head, but how can one explain Wie's performance? Even assuming she has a nagging injury, it's hard to explain how a player who was just a year earlier contending for Majors could be playing so poorly. But golf is a weird game. Se Ri Pak, in September, 2003, finished tenth at a men's tournament in Korea. Just a year later, at the Samsung, she finished fifteen shots behind the rest of the field. It all goes to show just how important the mental aspect of the game is to performance. Pak was having some injury issues, and her swing was extremely off the second half of that year. But she later revealed it was primarily burnout that afflicted her and prevented her from being able to play. One wonders if Wie is now facing those same demons, and if she will have the mental fortitude to overcome them in the future.

Ochoa continued her steady play in round three, producing a third straight round in the sixties to move to 12 under total. But totally overshadowing everyone else on the course was Suzann Pettersen. Pettersen is making a strong case to be thought of as the second best women's golfer in the game. She already had won three events coming into the Samsung, including a Major, and sat comfortably in second place on the money list. But in the past few weeks, she had really turned up the heat several notches. She beat Ochoa in a playoff at the Longs Drugs Challenge, and would go on to win two events in Asia in the following weeks. Here again, she incinerated the course, shooting an 8 under par 64 to leap into a tie for the lead with Ochoa. If it was going to be tough for a Korean to win before, it had just become exponentially more difficult now.

But the Koreans were still in good position to pull off an upset win nonetheless. JJ produced her own third straight round in the sixties, a 4 under par 68 to match the one she had shot on Friday, and moved to 11 under total. It was a bit more of a struggle for her, particularly on the front nine. In the first two rounds, she had only had one bogey. She started her third round with another bogey, but then made four more birdies on the front nine. But back to back bogies on nine and ten seemed to signal trouble ahead for the Little Giant. JJ was not about to give up, though: she made several strong putts on the back nine, collected three more birdies, and finished just a shot behind Pettersen and Ochoa. One more good round, and she could finally win her first event of the year.

Rookie Angela Park was also looking for her first win, and like JJ, put herself in good position to get it. She put a lob wedge to within a foot for a birdie on the third hole. But she would finish her front nine even after two bogies and another birdie, the bogies both coming from three putts. On the back, she started to play better, particularly with the flat stick. She drained three birdie putts of more than 15 feet in length, made no more big mistakes, and finished the day with a 69. That put her into a tie for third with JJ at 11 under. Lastly, Mi Hyun Kim (pictured) came roaring from back in the pack, shooting a 67 to also end her day at 11 under par. Like with JJ, she was making clutch putts and a few mistakes. She started her day with birdies on three of her first five holes, but had two bogies and another birdie on the front for a 34. On the back, she added four more birdies and another bogey. And so, the situation was set, and it was a good one for the Koreans. For the first time in a while, they had three strong golfers all within a shot of the lead going into the final round. The only problem was that they had to beat the two top players on tour to get that win. And in those situations, it's rare that both of those players are going to have a bad round. So if a Seoul Sister was going to win, she was going to need a great day to do it.

The other Koreans were too far back to make a serious run at the title, but they still had decent days and set themselves up for top tens. Seon Hwa Lee had a great day, shooting a 6 under par 66 to vault up to 4 under total. She had been third from last place after two days, but now looked likely to snag a top ten. Se Ri and Jee Young were both tied at 6 under, tied for 7th place, and Sarah Lee had a 69 on day three and was tied for 14th. Wie continued her struggles with a 76 that dropped her four shots behind Hauert at 19 over total. For what it was worth, at least it was a better round than her first two days.