At first it seemed so. Se Ri blistered the front nine with birdies on 4, 5, 7 and 9. The crowd following her was enormous, and pumped, hoping they were going to witness another great Pak performance. And indeed, the birdie on 9 moved Se Ri into first place at 12 under. Kung had bogeyed four times early to drop back to 9 under, and Mallon was not playing all that well. Webb had had another meltdown, something happening with increasing frequency on Sunday to her this year. Carin Koch was close and a threat. Se Ri by no means had it easy, but with a one shot lead and momentum, things were looking great.

But Kung charged back with three straight birdies, and Se Ri had three mediocre holes. She got reasonably close to the hole on 11 and 12, but barely missed the birdies. On the par 5 13th, she hit her drive well into the woods, but hit a wonderful out, and then finessed a pitch shot to within five feet of the flag. A good chance to rescue herself from a mistake, but again, she did not make the birdie.

Se Ri works her way out of the sand in round 4
Reuters/Tim Shaffer

Se Ri waves to her adoring fans

Next, Se Ri hit the dreaded combo of 14 and 15. In 2002, she was forced to make a great par save on 14 to keep her momentum going. On this day she played an all right hole 14, but left herself out of birdie range. But after that, she was informed that her group had dropped too far behind those in front of her, and was warned to step up the pace. Uh oh.

And indeed, 15, the par 3 with the nasty green, bit her hard. She hit a pretty bad tee shot and pulled her ball into the woods to the left of the hole. She had almost no chance to get it close from there, and on top of that had to fly the ball over a bunker. Well, all things considered, her pitch was pretty good, but it left her a really, really cruel putt from about ten feet. It broke a good four feet, and though she stroked it superlatively, it still scooted just past the hole, resulting in an eventual bogey. Meanwhile, Kung made a birdie behind Se Ri on 13, so just like that, Se Ri was two shots out of the lead.

Not that she gave up. She hit another punishing drive on 16, and gave herself a good approach into this par 5 hole. But again, she pulled her shot into the woods, and this time she had no shot at the green. The best she could do was whack her third shot along the ground and hope for the best. It ended up in a bunker, from which Se Ri hit a good sand shot, then saved par from about five feet. Whew! Believe it or not, she was still in the tournament, but she needed to be almost perfect on the next two holes.

Hole #17 started out OK, with a straight and long drive. But her approach was a smidge off, and plopped into the bunker short of the green. She had to err short, though, because putting from above the hole was a likely three putt. She hit a great out to within two feet, but agonizingly failed to sink the par putt, dropping down to 10 under. That all but ended things for Se Ri, but still she didn't give up. Kung was not making birdies, not even on the par 5 16th, although she was not making mistakes, either. And Kung still had the 17th to play, and she might screw that one up. Se Ri had to stay focused.

Se Ri hit another perfect drive on 18, leaving herself just an iron into the par 5's green. And finally, she hit a great one, bouncing it just at the front of the green and rolling it about 15 feet past. An eagle chance, but a very hard one; in 2002, she had missed an eagle putt from three feet above the hole, and now she had one from 15 feet above it. She tapped the putt, and it rolled, almost in slow motion. With each turn, it looked like it might stop, but it kept going. Finally, about ten seconds later, it dropped dead center in the cup. The crowd went craaaaazy, and Se Ri flashed her award winning smile. The commentators praised her for her never give up attitude, and now, at 12 under, she just had to wait and see if Kung could get through the final two holes in even par or better (Kung was currently at 13 under).

Just when you are ready to write Se Ri off, she
makes magic. Here she celebrates her
brilliant 18th hole eagle
Reuters/Tim Shaffer

So Se Ri wound up with her third straight top two finish. Like at the British (and the Farr, really), she made too many mistakes in the final round to pull off the win, but showed the kind of heart that allowed her to stay in it despite her struggles. The win earned her another $90,000+ and cemented her second place status on the money list. But the quest to get into the Hall of Fame in 2003 continues, with two victories still required. With her heart and determination, you just know she's going to find a way to do it.