2007 Tournament of Champions:
Fly Like a Birdie

The Tournament of Champions is one of those specialty events that occur towards the end of the year on the LPGA tour. Only players who have won LPGA events in the previous four seasons are allowed to participate. The cut off year of 2004 meant that a couple of Korean winners, Shi Hyun Ahn and Gloria Park, would not be in the field this year; they had not won on tour since 2003 and 2002, respectively. This event had been particularly good to Se Ri Pak (pictured), who won it both in 2001 and 2002. In the latter year, she amassed a huge lead by mid-Saturday, and at one point on Sunday was ten shots clear of the next player in the field. Only a big run by her good friend Lorie Kane made the result a little less impressive, although Se Ri still won the trophy by five strokes.

Since Se Ri's 2002 win, however, despite the ever increasing number of them eligible to play, the only Korean to win the title was Christina Kim, who captured it in 2005. This year marked the largest number of qualified Koreans yet, but a number of them chose not to show up this year, probably because they were busy preparing for the ADT Championship the following week. Among the winners not in attendance were Jeong Jang, Jee Young Lee, Soo-Yun Kang and Young Kim. The last name was particularly surprising, since she had won her first event on tour this year and thus would be able to play this event for the first time ever. Furthermore, she was not going to play in the ADT or any other post season event, so there was nothing stopping her from participating. But, for whatever unknown reason, she took a pass.

A number of strong Korean winners were in the field, however, ten in total. The other three Korean tour winners of 2007, Se Ri Pak, Mi Hyun Kim and Seon Hwa Lee, were all there, as were Sung Ah Yim, Joo Mi Kim and Korean American Christina Kim. Also in the field were three other players who had struggled at times since their lone wins on tour. Jimin Kang had claimed her sole LPGA triumph at the 2005 Corning Classic. Since then, she had only collected a few top tens, but in part that was because of circumstances beyond her control. In 2006, for instance, she severely injured her foot midyear, just when she was starting to get on a roll, and missed most of the rest of the season. In 2007, she had been having a comeback year of sorts, almost cracking the top forty on the money list despite not winning. Birdie Kim had won the most important event in all of women's golf the same year Kang won her event. But since claiming the prize at the US Women's Open, Birdie had not made another top ten until earlier this season. But although that was her only top ten of the year coming into this week, she had played well in general in 2007, and was having her best overall season in terms of consistency, including the year she won the Open. Jin Joo Hong had won the first LPGA event she had ever played, the 2006 Kolon-Hana Bank Championship. That win earned her exempt status on tour in 2007, but she had not played all that well in her rookie season. She did manage to secure an exempt card for 2008, but still had expected a better rookie campaign than the one she had. In fact, the Tournament of Champions was only the second event she had ever played more than once on tour (she had played it right after winning the Kolon in 2006), and she looked forward to playing a course she was familiar with for a change.

In 2006, the event had been a blowout, with Mexican star Lorena Ochoa cruising to a boring ten shot victory over the field. But in round one of the 2007 edition, she did not play all that well, opening the possibility that the event might actually be competitive this time. The Koreans could certainly have used a victory; it had been an unusually long time since they had won their last event, the HSBC Match Play event, which had been contested in July. Here it was November, and in that entire stretch, the Sisters had only managed a couple of events where they even came close to winning. All ten of the Korean women in the field wanted to be the one to end that slump.

A couple got out to good starts. Mi Hyun Kim (pictured) shot a 3 under par 69 that included a run of three birdies at one point. Seon Hwa Lee also shot a 69, highlighted by a brilliant approach to a foot on the 18th hole. Se Ri, the other 2007 winner in the field, had a tougher go of it. At one point, she had fallen to 3 over par, but rallied in a big way in her last few holes. It didn't hurt that she dunked her approach shot from the fairway on the fifteenth hole for an eagle, but she had already made two birdies before that, and added another on the par 5 15th to move to 2 under total, where she finished the day. Those scores put these Korean golfers on the leaderboard and within shouting distance of the lead.

Meanwhile, several other Koreans also had good days. Jin Joo Hong opened with a 2 under 70 herself, while Hee-Won Han, playing just her second event since having her first child, shot a 71. Jimin Kang also shot a 71, while Birdie Kim had a decent 72 to start. But little did these golfers know that the event was about to turn into a rout much like it had in 2006. Only, it wouldn't be Ochoa who ran away with the title this time. American Paula Creamer had actually started her round fairly badly, and after 11 holes, she sat at 2 over par and seemed unlikely to do much. But starting on hole 12, she caught fire in a huge way, finishing her round with seven straight birdies to seize a share of the first round lead at 5 under. So far nothing to worry about, as several Koreans were within just a few shots of that mark. But she continued her torrid pace in round two, shooting a 7 under par 65 without a single mistake on her card. By the time she was halfway done with her week, she had a five shot lead, and looked unlikely to make a mistake again. She was helped by the fact that Meg Mallon, who had been tied for the lead with her after one round, shot a miserable 10 over par 82 to plummet out of contention.

Still, on Friday there were several Koreans who were trying to keep pace with Creamer for the win. Jin Joo Hong (pictured) was one of them. Her year had not been a great one, as mentioned before, but she was playing here much like the golfer who had so convincingly won the Kolon-Hana Bank in 2006. She wasn't perfect, making three bogies on the day, but she also produced eight birdies, and her 5 under par 67 moved her to 7 under total, all by herself in second place. It was her best two rounds of LPGA golf since her win, and at least theoretically, she was still in the hunt for the crown.

Unfortunately, Hong was the only Korean in the field who could still make that claim. The other Koreans who had been near the top of the leaderboard on Thursday for the most part struggled on day two. Se Ri Pak admitted that she was having injury issues, after hurting her hip during the pro am on Wednesday, but had decided to try and finish the week despite her troubles. But the injuries were starting to get the better of her on this day. She shot a one over par 73 and fell to one under, 11 shots off the pace. The win already looked out of the question, but a top ten finish, and maybe a top five, was still possible. Seon Hwa Lee shot a 2 over par round, while Kimmie really struggled, going 4 over on the day to fall well back. Hee-Won Han also shot an over par round. The only Korean beside Hong and Pak under par at this point was Birdie Kim, who shot a decent 70 to move to 2 under total. But it looked fairly unlikely that she would be able to make up the ten shots on Creamer, even with two rounds to go.