Volume 1, Number 14 September 17, 2003
 
Pages 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, Results

Making things more interesting for Se Ri was the fact that she was paired with Annika Sorenstam in round 1. Annika had been gone from the LPGA for a very long time. In fact, she had not played an LPGA event since she had pipped Se Ri at the Weetabix British Women's Open a month previous. It was always an interesting dynamic when these two got together, and this was bound to be no different. Although Se Ri was doubtless tired, she would definitely try to rise to the challenge of Sorenstam.

But the truth of it is, neither one of them played all that well. Annika did manage towards the end of her round to catch fire a little and shoot a 69, but Se Ri could not seem to get anything going, and ended up with a one over par 71 (on this par 70 course). This course was a particularly bad one for Se Ri to be facing when tired, for it had but two par fives, and a fair amount of penal rough as well. It actually had the makings of a disaster for Se Ri as she started with a double bogey, but got that back with an eagle on the only par 5 on the front. In the end, she hit a fair amount of greens, but only about half her fairways, and her putting was not good enough to make up for the rest.

Se Ri chips during round 1
Reuters/Jeff Mitchell

Se Ri's driving let her down somewhat in round 1
AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki

A couple of Korean players did manage to make an impression on the leader board, including Gloria Park, who not surprisingly had some good memories of this course from the recent past. But the top Korean player after round 1 was one of the biggest dark horses in the field, Young-A Yang, who shot a 2 under par 68 that left her in a tie for fourth. The top player after round one, however, was Karrie Webb. The former world's number one shot a blistering 65 on this course that had yielded only 17 scores under par. She was in a strong position with only two rounds to go, but neither Annika nor even Se Ri could yet be discounted.

One problem as far as Se Ri was concerned was that, having finished well back in the field after the first day, she was going to be playing a lot earlier than the leaders on Saturday. This being a three day event, the players were re-paired after each round based on their current standings, so Se Ri would not play with Annika in the second round. Weirdly, though, Se Ri was made to start on the tenth hole. Usually in three day events, only the players way back in the field will start play on the tenth hole in round two.
Se Ri's play in round 2 was still not so great, but the field as a whole had struggles on this day. Under par rounds were still few and far between. Se Ri put together a 2 over par 72, but even that was better than Annika, who shot a 4 over par 74 to fall back into a tie with Se Ri. This meant exactly what you would expect: that Se Ri and Annika would be paired together again in the third and final round. But though this would doubtless generate some interest, it would have been better had they been in the final group. Instead, the two of them ended the day tied for 28th. For Se Ri, that meant that she made no progress from her position on day one. Winning seemed very unlikely, for Webb had held her ground with a one under par 69 to move to nine shots ahead of Se Ri. But the bigger question was, could a Korean get a top ten? After round 2, only Young-A Yang sat in the top ten. Mi Hyun Kim was tied with Se Ri, and Young Kim and Gloria Park were in 19th with an off chance of moving up (Gloria's 3 over par 73 had all but ended her chances of capturing a second Williams/Hammons trophy).

Se Ri made up no ground during round 2
Reuters/Jeff Mitchell
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