Strength in numbers

THIS year’s US Women’s Open produced lots of excitement but most of all it provided evidence, if any were needed, of the incredible strength in depth which now exists in women’s golf.

Cristie Kerr’s win was a timely reminder that the 29-year-old Floridian isn’t ready yet to give up her mantle as the top-placed American in the world rankings to the gang of American young guns snapping at her heels.

Cristie has been the leading American money winner on the LPGA Tour for the last three seasons as well as being a consistent winner on tour. However, it really is true that unless there are exceptional circumstances – such as Jean Van de Velde at Carnoustie in 1999 – we really do forget the challengers and only remember the winners.

So it’s easy to forget Cristie was joint runner-up at last year’s Women’s British Open and came close to winning the US Women’s Open in 2000 when she again finishd second. Before Pine Needles Cristie had nine top-five finishes to her credit, with two coming in 2006, which was her best ever year financially, but most importantly it yielded her lowest ever scoring average of 70.07.

Along with world No 1 – Lorena Ochoa – Cristie was being talked about as the best female player never to have won a Major.
It was somewhat ironic that although other players were close, in the end the US Open came down to a contest between those two.

I definitely believe in ‘horses for courses’ and the fact Cristie was the leading amateur when the US Women’s Open was played at Pine Needles in 1996, and then as a professional finished fourth when the Open was played there in 2001, meant she was returning to a place with happy memories.

Cristie said afterwards she felt all along she would win this year’s championship and that no matter how her game was, she would make herself win! The crucial factor was her fantastic putting, and more specifically the putt she holed for a birdie on the 14th in the final round.

Cristie had in fact bought the putter she was using a couple of weeks previously while playing in Korea. In desperation of her poor putting Cristie went in search of a new one in the pro shop – her purchase obviously had a dramatic effect!

On the 440-yard 17th, Cristie’s slightly pulled drive carried the bunker on the angle of the dog leg and left her just a seven iron in while Lorena smother-hooked her tee shot into the woods. Cristie’s destiny was sealed.

I felt, as I’m sure a lot of fans did, that I was pleased for Cristie but sad that Lorena let another Major slip away. I really believe Lorena will win a Major soon and with St Andrews a course that favours hookers rather than faders, it could well be there that she makes her breakthrough just a few days after this issue is published.

Of the 67 players who made the cut, 24 were from Korea, an amazing statistic when you think Se Ri Pak was the only Korean to play on the LPGA Tour in 1998. Little did Se Ri know that she would inspire generations of women to take up golf and become some of the best players in the world.

One young Korean who I’ve been really impressed with is the teenager Jiyai Shin. Shin won the Thailand Ladies Open earlier this year by a record 10 shots, and with her partner Young Kim came close to causing an upset in this year’s Women’s World Cup where Korea eventually finished third.

In-Bee Park – playing in her rookie year on the LPGA Tour – was another Korean who was impressive. In-Bee has a sound golf swing and showed at Pine Needles she has the mental strength to cope with contending in Major championships. With Se Ri Pak showing some good form recently and My Hyun Kim contending in most of the tournaments she plays, don’t be surprised if we have another Korean winner of this year’s Ricoh Women’s British Open.

Jeong Jang in 2005 and Se Ri in 2001 are two previous Korean winners of the fourth and final women’s Major of the year and we may get another at the start of August. I’ll certainly be discussing the Ricoh Open in October’s issue!