Post by HappyFan on Aug 4, 2024 0:29:32 GMT
I went to the tournament around 10 AM today (I'm in Portland for the weekend). Just a quick note about the event: the bleachers are almost completely gone. Even the huge one behind the 18th green, and the big hospitality tent on 17, all gone. In general it was not all that well attended, at least compared to previous years.
Also, they kept saying it was going to be scorching hot, but it wasn't that bad. In fact, most of the day it was overcast, so it felt maybe low 80s. It wasn't until the last couple of hours that the sun came out and it started to feel a bit hot.
I caught up with Six as she missed a short birdie putt on 5. It went that way for her. She just wasn't doing much right. She missed the green on 8 and, after 7 pars, couldn't get up and down and made bogey. She hit a perfect drive on 9, but again pulled her approach left into the rough. Another bogey. At that point I decided to take an early lunch rather than watch her suffer any more.
After a hot dog, I went to the practice green and watched So Mi Lee and Jenny Shin practice. I decided to follow So Mi, and as a bonus the group in front of her was Narin An and Jiwon Jeon, so I ended up being able to keep tabs on three Sisters. So Mi was paired with Angel Yin.
I was curious to see what had been holding So Mi back. I know she's super talented and has won multiple times in Korea, so why wasn't she doing better?
After a few holes, here's what I observed. First, she's a lot longer than I thought. She was keeping up with Angel off the tee, and I'm pretty sure Yin was hitting driver (unless her driver had a REALLY big head, because if that was a three wood, it sure had a large head). In fact, So Mi was usually a little past her off the tee. There were several holes where their drives were right next to each other, like a foot apart.
The other thing was that So Mi was really accurate. Like, I don't recall her missing a single fairway or green while I watched. Usually she was dead in the middle. After watching Jin Young miss so many fairways at KPMG, it was a nice change.
Her big problem was that despite that accuracy, she was not getting her irons close. Pretty much every putt she had was 20 feet. So she repeated the same thing: twenty foot birdie try, just missed, tap in par. Yin wasn't making anything either at that point.
On the par 5 5th she hit a spectacular second shot to twenty feet, as close as her birdie tries had been. This time she just missed the putt by a hair, but had a tap-in birdie instead of a tap-in par.
After somehow botching getting a birdie on the par 5 7th despite being next to the green in two and another boring par on 8, I noticed Narin An coming up to the 10th green. She was playing really well, so I followed them for a few holes. On the final par 5 (the 12th), she hit a great drive, but put her second into the right rough. Maybe about 40 yards short of the green. She hit a great shot from there to four feet and made birdie. I seriously had given up on her making birdie there, that shot was something else.
After they teed off on 13, I saw So Mi coming in on 12. She had left her second about twenty yards short, but hit her third to six inches. Shot of the day. The birdie there moved her to 14 under. I was back with her group again!
She hit her tee shot on the par 3 13th ten feet over the flag, then hit a perfect putt that dropped on the final roll. Now 15 under!
On 14 she left her approach just short of the green after hitting another great drive. She decided to chip it even though the flag was maybe fifteen feet away. No worries, made par. Yin made birdie there, then hit her approach on 15 really close. She must have backed away from the shot four times before pulling the trigger, but it paid off. But then she had a horseshoe lipout!
So Mi made her final birdie on 17. Once again, she and Yin hit identical drives. The flag this time was in the front, and both hit it within eight feet. But only So Mi made birdie.
In case you're wondering, I did see A Lim once from a distance, but she seemed not to be playing that well so I decided to focus on So Mi. Glad I did!
I also briefly saw Narin one more time. She had put her tee shot on 16 into the greenside bunker and had the stance from hell. Made bogey there.
One other thing: So Mi hit a great approach on 18, too, but didn't make that birdie. But next to me were four youngish white dudes who were REALLY happy she hit that shot. It's always interesting to me when I'm not the only non-Korean following the Sisters. They even said how happy they were that "So Mi" had done that, so they knew her name. Wonder what the story was. Pro am partners maybe?
Anyways, that's it for me this week. Good luck to So Mi and the other Sisters!!!
Also, they kept saying it was going to be scorching hot, but it wasn't that bad. In fact, most of the day it was overcast, so it felt maybe low 80s. It wasn't until the last couple of hours that the sun came out and it started to feel a bit hot.
I caught up with Six as she missed a short birdie putt on 5. It went that way for her. She just wasn't doing much right. She missed the green on 8 and, after 7 pars, couldn't get up and down and made bogey. She hit a perfect drive on 9, but again pulled her approach left into the rough. Another bogey. At that point I decided to take an early lunch rather than watch her suffer any more.
After a hot dog, I went to the practice green and watched So Mi Lee and Jenny Shin practice. I decided to follow So Mi, and as a bonus the group in front of her was Narin An and Jiwon Jeon, so I ended up being able to keep tabs on three Sisters. So Mi was paired with Angel Yin.
I was curious to see what had been holding So Mi back. I know she's super talented and has won multiple times in Korea, so why wasn't she doing better?
After a few holes, here's what I observed. First, she's a lot longer than I thought. She was keeping up with Angel off the tee, and I'm pretty sure Yin was hitting driver (unless her driver had a REALLY big head, because if that was a three wood, it sure had a large head). In fact, So Mi was usually a little past her off the tee. There were several holes where their drives were right next to each other, like a foot apart.
The other thing was that So Mi was really accurate. Like, I don't recall her missing a single fairway or green while I watched. Usually she was dead in the middle. After watching Jin Young miss so many fairways at KPMG, it was a nice change.
Her big problem was that despite that accuracy, she was not getting her irons close. Pretty much every putt she had was 20 feet. So she repeated the same thing: twenty foot birdie try, just missed, tap in par. Yin wasn't making anything either at that point.
On the par 5 5th she hit a spectacular second shot to twenty feet, as close as her birdie tries had been. This time she just missed the putt by a hair, but had a tap-in birdie instead of a tap-in par.
After somehow botching getting a birdie on the par 5 7th despite being next to the green in two and another boring par on 8, I noticed Narin An coming up to the 10th green. She was playing really well, so I followed them for a few holes. On the final par 5 (the 12th), she hit a great drive, but put her second into the right rough. Maybe about 40 yards short of the green. She hit a great shot from there to four feet and made birdie. I seriously had given up on her making birdie there, that shot was something else.
After they teed off on 13, I saw So Mi coming in on 12. She had left her second about twenty yards short, but hit her third to six inches. Shot of the day. The birdie there moved her to 14 under. I was back with her group again!
She hit her tee shot on the par 3 13th ten feet over the flag, then hit a perfect putt that dropped on the final roll. Now 15 under!
On 14 she left her approach just short of the green after hitting another great drive. She decided to chip it even though the flag was maybe fifteen feet away. No worries, made par. Yin made birdie there, then hit her approach on 15 really close. She must have backed away from the shot four times before pulling the trigger, but it paid off. But then she had a horseshoe lipout!
So Mi made her final birdie on 17. Once again, she and Yin hit identical drives. The flag this time was in the front, and both hit it within eight feet. But only So Mi made birdie.
In case you're wondering, I did see A Lim once from a distance, but she seemed not to be playing that well so I decided to focus on So Mi. Glad I did!
I also briefly saw Narin one more time. She had put her tee shot on 16 into the greenside bunker and had the stance from hell. Made bogey there.
One other thing: So Mi hit a great approach on 18, too, but didn't make that birdie. But next to me were four youngish white dudes who were REALLY happy she hit that shot. It's always interesting to me when I'm not the only non-Korean following the Sisters. They even said how happy they were that "So Mi" had done that, so they knew her name. Wonder what the story was. Pro am partners maybe?
Anyways, that's it for me this week. Good luck to So Mi and the other Sisters!!!
