Wow, what a great weekend I had! So Yeon winning for the first time in nearly a year, another fave -- Ji Hyun Oh -- crushes the field at the Korea Women's Open, and Jiyai almost made it 3-for-3 in Japan. Easily the best week of the year so far for me!
Watching this final round through my usual Ryu goggles would have been hard. That horrible botch job on 11 was painful. I was just about expecting that to be the fatal mistake for her, especially with everyone and her aunt making eagles and 70 foot birdies and whatnot. I just can't see how she does not walk away from 11 with at least a par, when she is near the green in two like that.
But all week it just felt like she was in control and ready to get the job done, and she quickly recovered. I like this new So Yeon and hope we see her a lot more this year. She also was lucky in that she seemed to get crucial mistakes from each rival just when it looked like she would surpass So Yeon.
But mainly, it was So Yeon making a bounce back birdie on 12, burying a couple of clutch par saves later, then making birdie on 16 and 17 to seal the deal. At that point, even the ridiculously long putt Masson made on 18 didn't phase me.
So, great win from her, but again just one Korean in the top ten. Jin Young made a nice run, though, and In Gee had a good final day. Kudos to Hee Young Park, too.
But heck, in the end, SO YEON WON! That's good enough for now!
Terrific week. So Yeon Ryu seems to be one of the Korean players whose appeal has crossed over to a large group of American fans, so this is a win-win for all except maybe those who had a top favorite come up 2nd or 3rd.