Volume 1, Number 10 July 23, 2003
 
Pages Tu1, Tu2, W1, W2, W3, Th1, Th2, Th3, Th4, F1, F2, F3, F4, Sa1, Sa2, Sa3, Sun, Gallery, Results
Thursday, Day one: Grace Okay, Se Ri Oi Vey! (continued)

Hole 16: A straight par 4 with a tricky green. Grace split the fairway, but her approach landed in the bunker. Still, she hit a great out and saved par nicely.

I was standing next to Grace's mom when these two men came up to her and showed her some pictures printed on computer paper. I casually glanced over her shoulder while they did so. Perhaps eight pages with six pics per page. These were pics of Grace in all sorts of glamorous poses. One set was a bunch of black and white shadowy pics (think the Beatles album Meet the Beatles). There were shots where she had on billowy skirts blowing in the wind, shots on a beach, one where she was sitting in a round chair, all *amazing*, and all pics I had never seen before anywhere. What are these pictures for!!!??? I noticed a little later that Grace's mom had a Nike envelope in her bag and surmised these men were from Nike and had delivered some photos to her. Could these be the pics that will be featured in her ads for Nike? Stay tuned! I kid you not, they were beautiful pictures!

Hole 17: She hit a whopper of a drive here, easily 40 - 50 yards past Meg Mallon. She hit it so far that she ended up in the narrowest part of the fairway, but luckily was still in the short grass. From where I stood, the flag looked so close to the bunker that fronted it that it looked impossible to get close. But Grace hit a gorgeous wedge that landed pin high, then curved left upon landing and rolled right up to the hole. Very very impressive shot! A 4 ft birdie putt moved her back to -1, only one shot out of the lead for the entire tournament!

Grace waits her turn during round 1
(note Grace's mom standing behind her!)
Seoul Sisters Photo/Eric Fleming

Grace on the putting green
Seoul Sisters Photo/Eric Fleming

Hole 18: Par 5. She bombed her drive 280 yards (said the official who measured it when I asked her), again about 30 yards ahead of her playing partners. She then waited about ten minutes for the group ahead of them before going (the others laid up). Grace's second ended up short of the greenside bunker in the rough after hitting a tree. She hit a superlative pitch that stopped just past the hole, maybe six feet away. This was another great birdie chance, but she wimped out on the putt, not reaching the hole, and had to settle for par.

No "Hurricane Grace" so far (i.e., she had kept her cool the whole round), but some great play by her that put her only one shot out of the lead at that point.

Hole 1: Very impressive drive that was followed by her iron of the day, a sweet high arcer that dropped right next to the hole and stayed. Easy birdie. -2!!

Hole 2: For some reason, about 30 Koreans suddenly joined our group at this point. On this par 3, Grace landed her tee shot just right of the green. But she fluffed her chip (it went maybe two feet), and her par save from the fringe missed. Bogey. Grace kicked her bag in disgust. This was her first sign of anger, but I hoped she had gotten it out of her system, because to this point she had played very very well. No need for her to be mad about one mistake!

Hole 3: This is a nasty hole. Grace put her drive in the left rough, so she had a terrible stance. Not wanting to risk trying to clear the brook, she laid up, then hit a decent pitch. But she missed her par save. Back to Even.

Hole 4: Par 5. Got into the greenside bunker in two, but hit a horrible out that rolled off the back of the green. This was easily her worst shot of the day so far, and it got her really upset. She whacked her club against the ground and said a very naughty word. She tossed her club back towards her bag with an underhand fling. She was steaming!

You know how they say that animals freak out in storms? Well, at that moment, a deer, perhaps scared by Hurricane Grace, came bounding out of the woods and walked around the fairway! It walked into the bunkers and hung out for a couple of minutes before some officials shooed it away, then repaired the bunker. Grace, meanwhile, saved par.

Hole 5: They waited forever on this par 3. Grace joked to Meg that they should consider camping out there. She hit a good tee shot eventually but just missed the birdie try.

Pumpkin Ridge, where the deer and the Seoul Sisters play
Seoul Sisters Photo/Eric Fleming

Another great drive
Seoul Sisters Photo/Eric Fleming

Hole 6: Good drive. Her second landed near this weird stone bed that lay near the green; I think it is meant as a drainage ditch. It's only about six inches wide, but Grace got relief cause it messed up her stance. She hit a neat little chip out of there, but could not save par. A bad break. This moved her to one over par.

Hole 7: Just blistered her drive on this lengthy par 5. Her second was an iron, and she still left it but 30 yards short of the green! And it's 559 yards! Then she hit another great pitch that stopped dead right next to the hole for an easy birdie. If only Se Ri could have done that! Back to even par!

Hole 8: This one got Grace just like it had gotten Se Ri. In fact, Meg Mallon got burned even worse. She actually got angry! I never saw that before! Tropical Storm Meg! Grace split the fairway, then waited an eternity for her second shot. Finally, she hit hers into the rough right of the green. No problem, right? Well, this is a two tiered green, and the one thing you have to do is make sure you get your chip onto the top tier. Grace did not, and it rolled all the way back down. That was bad enough, but then her par putt barely made it to the top tier, still six feet from the hole. She missed that bogey putt, and had a tap-in double. After so many great holes, finally a truly bad one. Grace kicked her bag again. +2 on the day.

Hole 9: Steaming mad, Grace annihilated her drive well past the island bunkers in the fairway; this one must have been close to 300 yards, as she had only 125 yards left in to the flag. She was left in some heavy rough, and had some trees to deal with, but pitched it up perfectly to 5 feet past the hole. Nice birdie to end things, and though her one over total left her five or so shots out of the lead for the moment, you had to believe that she was in good shape.

Summary:
Although Grace had one big mistake towards the end and a few other problems on her back nine, in general this was a marvelous round for her. She was driving it well, hit some great approaches, and made some clutch putts. But this was also the round she got angriest in of the ones I witnessed.

Dog tired after all the walking I did, I trudged back to my car. It was after 7 O'clock. I had been there for ten hours! But boy, it was fun, even though Se Ri's struggles got a bit hard to watch at times.
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