2003 Safeway Classic: Sunday

Hole 8: the scary par 3 over water. The par 3s were not good to Se Ri this week. This shot was really weak, and bounced over the green into a collection area. She had a tough chip from there, but it looked good. It rolled up to the flag, but kept rolling to about 15 feet away. She hit a heroic lag from there, but still tapped in for bogey.

At that point, I decided to watch Grace and Hee-Won. Grace was still playing pretty well. It was also the point when Annika moved to 12 under, all but sealing the tournament barring a huge run by one of the Sisters.

On the 10th hole I met a good friend of Hee-Won Han's, thanks to 'HappyFanRooter', a Korean Canadian fan who has provided me with great stuff for the site in the past. The friend, whose name was Hae-Won, told me that Hee-Won had seen the site and liked it. In fact, earlier that very week, Hee-Won had shown Hae-Won the site! Next time I get a chance I'll have to try to meet Hee-Won!

While I was not watching Se Ri, she birdied 10 and bogeyed 11 to remain at 7 under. I watched Grace and Hee-Won finish 10, then went to rejoin Se Ri on 12. Good thing I did.

Se Ri is at home on the range
SeoulSisters.com photo

The swing that's won 21 LPGA titles
(and counting!)
SeoulSisters.com photo

Hole 12: the final par 5 on the course. She hit a great drive, then a superlative approach to about 4 feet. Right below the hole, the easiest putt you could get to this pin location I think. I don't think in her life she has had more than a couple better eagle chances than this one. The small crowd around the green gave her a long ovation after that one. Alas, she missed the eagle (barely), and tapped in for birdie to move to 8 under again. But oh, what could have been!

Hole 13: The par 3 over water. The flag is towards the front, and what you want is to be below the flag, but there is not very much room. Se Ri nailed her shot to the perfect spot below the flag. 4 feet for another birdie. 9 under. She wasn't going to win, but 9 under looked good enough for a top 5 if she could hold on.

Hole 14: This is the hole that gives Se Ri fits if she hits a weak drive. Today she hit a fairway wood, but still went left. Her stance to hit her second was all right, but she was blocked by low hanging branches in front of her so she could not loft the ball at all. And the ball was somewhat down in the rough. She hit a shot that jetted along the ground, rolling out to the fairway, 50 yards short of the green. There she pitched to 4 feet, then nailed the clutch par save.

Hole 15: She tried to work a three wood around the dogleg, but it went straight into the left rough. Hit her approach right at the flag, but it rolled off the back of the green. Her chip stopped a foot away for an easy par.

Hole 16: Par 3. Dropped her tee shot into the bunker. But she had little problem, hitting it to 3 feet, then saving par.

Hole 17: The struggles continued. This drive went left again, and on this hole, that meant woods. She was next to a tree, but her swing was clear. She had to stand right against the tree, which was a bit awkward. There were some low hanging branches, but it looked like she could get out. Alas, she clipped a branch coming out, and only made it halfway to the hole. Her pitch was OK, but left her with a 6 footer downhill. This was going to be a challenge, but she nailed it. Se Ri Fighting! She was hanging in there despite every chance to collapse.

Hole 18: All she needed to do here was hit the fairway, and she had the top 5. And she hit her drive in the worst possible place, right. Right even of the trees. This left her behind the scoreboard, so she called for a ruling. The official gave her a spot to measure from, they took two club lengths from there, then spent some time trying to find a spot to drop that was two clubs away, not nearer the hole, and where she had a free swing. She punched it out to the fairway, pitched up to 10 feet, then missed the par save. 2 footer for bogey.

Like much of the week, Se Ri had her good moments and her bad moments. Her putting was the real culprit, though. She just makes the four can't miss putts that she did miss, and she would have been at 12 under. And that assumes she misses the almost unmissable eagle try on 12 today.

Se Ri meets with members of the Korean
press corps on Thursday
SeoulSisters.com photo

Grace, meanwhile, was still suffering from her tendency to get on a run of missed fairways that makes staying in the tournament problematic.

Still, it was a good week for Se Ri and Grace, and Hee-Won, Soo-Yun, Jung Yeon Lee and Mi Hyun Kim also had decent performances. For fans of the Seoul Sisters, it was nice to see so many of them perform well simultaneously. One can only hope that next year they return to Portland and do even better!