2007 Fields Open: Jelly on a Roll

But without a doubt, the attention was still on the final pairing. On the 10th hole, all three ladies missed birdie tries. On 11, both Lee and Prammanasudh gave themselves short, makeable birdies. Lee missed hers and Stacy made hers, taking a two shot lead. But Jee Young bounced right back on the next hole, draining a twelve foot birdie to move once again to within one shot of the lead.

Meanwhile, Angela (pictured) was starting to struggle. On 11, she had a dicey two putt from 40 feet. But on 12, she had a tough bunker shot and only got it to within five feet, then missed the par save. She dropped to 10 under par, three shots behind Stacy and two behind Jee Young. She could not afford to make any more mistakes if she wanted to make history.

Holes 13 and 14 were the pivotal holes of the tournament, two back to back par fives. Jee Young murdered the ball off the tee on 13 and easily reached the green in two with a rescue club. In fact, she overshot the hole with that club, but it rolled back to within 15 feet. Prammanasudh got to the front of the green in two with a 3 wood, while Park had to play the hole as a three shot hole, but put her third shot within five feet and made the birdie. Prammanasudh hit a great eagle try, but was just off line and tapped in for birdie to move to 14 under par. So now Lee had the 15 foot eagle try to move into a tie for the lead. It was a great effort, but she was just off, and tapped in for her own birdie to remain one shot behind.

On the next par 5, Prammanasudh was not able to reach the green in two. This looked to be an opening, but Jee Young sprayed her drive into the left trees. She was forced to hit her second shot off the hard pan with 190 yards to the green (with her lengthy drives, she was lucky she didn't hit it even further into the trees!). It was here that Jee Young treated the gallery to an example of her awesome power, hitting a shot that few other players could pull off. She punched the shot with a rescue club under the trees, carrying it all the way to the front of the green. The gallery gasped in appreciation as Jee Young coolly walked up the fairway to take her next shot. But her third shot chip was not very good, and she was not able to make birdie. Fortunately for her, Prammanasudh also missed her birdie, or the tournament might have been over right there. But Lee had definitely squandered a great opportunity to catch Prammanasudh. Angela Park then had another short birdie try to get herself back into the hunt, but she missed it, also making par. Without a doubt, it had been Angela's short putting that had let her down on this day. Not only had she missed that crucial par save a few holes back, but she had also missed several short birdie tries as well. She would go on to finish tied for third at 11 under, certainly a great finish in only her second start as an LPGA pro. She has surprisingly become the early front runner in the Rookie of the Year race. It will be interesting to see how the other top candidates respond, or if, like Seon Hwa did a year earlier, Park parlays this into a lead that makes her hard to catch.

Meanwhile, the tournament was still up for grabs between Prammanasudh and Lee. On the 15th hole, the advantage went to Stacy after Lee missed the green. In fact, Lee had to work to make par, while Prammanasudh had a 6 foot putt to take a two stroke lead and quite possibly put the tournament away. But she pulled the putt and tapped in for par, and Lee was still alive. On the 16th hole, Prammanasudh put her approach into some scruffy grass near the green, while Lee had set herself up nicely for birdie with an approach about fifteen feet past the hole. This was the biggest moment in the tournament yet for Prammanasudh; it would be pretty easy to mess up that chip. But she played it perfectly, tapped in the par, and waited to see what Lee would do. Lee was unable to get her putt to the hole, and remained one shot back.

On the 17th, Lee was not going to play it safe. She annihilated her drive nearly 300 yards, leaving her just 45 yards to the pin. She hit a sweet little pitch from there, giving herself a five foot putt for the birdie. Prammanasudh also had a birdie chance from 15 feet but missed. So once again, Lee had the chance to tie things up. And once again, her putt was a little off line, resulting in a tap in par. Which left everything up to the 18th hole. Both hit good drives, but Prammanasudh hit the green and Lee did not. She would pretty much have to make the twenty five putt from the fringe to win, and when she came up a little short, that was all she wrote. Stacy went on to two putt and claim the one shot victory over the feisty Jee Young Lee.

Lee had been nothing short of awesome during the week; not only was she among the top five drivers, she was also, through two rounds at least, the most accurate driver on the course. Had she made just a couple more clutch putts, she would have been holding the trophy. Still, there is every reason to believe that Lee has some great golf left in her for the rest of 2007. Sooner or later, she'll be in the position to grab that elusive second win.