About the only black cloud was that she birdied only two of the four par 5s. Indeed, her performance on the par 5s all week was not great; she was 4 under for the week on 12 par 5s. This is one thing Se Ri really needs to get back, because with her length, she has an enormous advantage over the field if she can become automatic at birdieing those holes.

Sunday came, and Se Ri was in the third to last group. And she got out to a great start, hitting 8 of the 9 greens on the front and missing only one fairway. At last! Straight driving Se Ri was back! She would only miss one fairway on the back as well, her best effort at hitting fairways in a very long time. Se Ri gave herself all sorts of opportunities for birdies, and made three of them on the front to move to within a shot or two of the leaders.

Then the magic happened. Se Ri flew a shot on the par 4 11th into the cup for an eagle two. I can't remember the last time Se Ri did that; perhaps she has never done it! Suddenly, with several holes to go, Se Ri was at 11 under and only a shot out of the lead. Perhaps the Giant Eagle bad mojo would finally end thanks to a giant eagle 2?

Wearing her traditional black and white Sunday
colors
Reuters/Ron Kuntz

Nope, not to be. Se Ri did not manage another birdie, but did have a bogey on 15 to knock herself back to 10 under, where she finished with a 68. Sure, not a bad score at all, and the fifth place finish must have felt good for her. But best of all, she was really in contention again, and though she couldn't quite get it done, you can't help feel like this was the result she needed: a good solid effort that reminded her what she is capable of even when she is not firing on all cylinders. It should give her confidence, and perhaps the next time she is but a shot out of the lead on Sunday, she will be able to get the trophy.