Saturday, October 20, 2007

Pettersen Opens Door at the Hana Bank-KOLON Championship

If Suzann Pettersen (-3) can hold off Eun-Hee Ji (-2), Jeong Jang (-1), Seon Hwa Lee (-1), and Hyun-Hee Moon (E) Sunday at the Hana Bank-KOLON Championship, she'll really have earned her 4th victory of the year. I've seen enough of the webcast to appreciate just how tough the course (lots of water, lots of holes that are as easy to bogey as they are to birdie, lots of opportunities for big numbers) and conditions (cool with swirling winds and fairways that are still soaked enough that they played lift, clean, and place for the second day in a row today) are. Let's put it this way: when Rookie of the Year Angela Park, who was in the hunt last week at the Samsung, is in last place at +16, when there have only been 3 sub-70 rounds and 12 sub-par rounds thus far, and when so many good rounds have turned ugly over the past two days, you know it's going to be as much a battle of perseverance and willpower as of talent and judgment tomorrow.

Pettersen's 72 today is a great example of how up-and-down a round can be: at -5 for the tournament through the first 7 holes, she looked in total control while almost everyone around her was faltering. But then she bogeyed 8 and 9--which was acually an improvement on her first round, when she went double bogey-bogey on those holes--and opened the door to the field. Even though she responded with 3 birdies and only 1 bogey over the next six holes to again get to -5, she finished +2 on the same final three holes that on Friday she had played in -2. Result: instead of only the 4 other players at par or better having a legitimate shot at chasing her down, the 2 people at +1 are right in the thick of things, the 4 at +2 can get into the mix with a great front 9, and even the 6 at +3 and the 5 at +4 can dream of posting a number early and hoping the leaders come back to them. Would you rather have 4 or 18 people thinking they can beat you?

At the risk of once again invoking the Mostly Harmless jinx, I'll note that back in June I suggested this may yet be the Year of the Pettersen. This comment alone was enough to send Pettersen into a two-month mini-slump. And certainly my rooting for a Lorena Ochoa (75, +3, T12) vs. Ji-Yai Shin (76, +5, T23) shootout is out the window; my hoping that Se Ri Pak (76, +4, T18) or Mi Hyun Kim (77, +7, T28) would get their second wins of the season is out of the question; my cheering for top Super Soph Seon Hwa Lee (-3 through 14 but bogeyed 2 of her last 4 holes) was counterproductive; and my calling for a Meena Lee (77, +2, T8) resurgence and a Na-Yeon Choi (-4 on the day through her first 10 holes but endured a nightmarish bogey-double bogey-bogey-bogey stretch to go from being in contention to joining Meena on the outside looking in) emergence was premature.

With my luck, putting aside all hope except one--that the Korean channel carrying the tournament actually show the last half-hour of play rather than cutting away to the news--won't even be enough for me to avoid disappointment tomorrow. It's been that kind of week.

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