Pak, Kim Lead Korean Surge at Match Play
By Kim Tong-hyung
Staff Reporter
Hall of Famer Pak Se-ri and veteran Kim Mi-hyun were among the 11 Korean players who advanced to the second-round of the Women's World Match Play Championship, accounting for about one-third of the 32 players avoiding elimination.
The first-round of the tournament held at the at Wykagyl Country Club in New York had its fair share of surprises, highlighted by the fall of Australian Hall of Famer Karrie Webb to little-known Charlotte Mayorkas, the 63rd seed in the 64-player event, and the elimination of defending champion Brittany Lincicome in the hands of Carin Koch.
Korean players were the culprits behind several of the day's upsets, with Kim Ju-yun taking out sixth-seeded American Morgan Pressel, and Juli Inkster bowing out to Choi Hye-jung. Jang Jeong ousted Marisa Baena, the winner of the 2005 tournament.
``It was really good. I had the great honor of playing with Juli. I never thought I was going to beat her, I just played to try to learn from her,'' said Choi.
Pak, fresh off her fifth Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic victory, did not need much help against Beth Bader in a 2-up victory. Pak is now slated for a second-round match against Christina Kim, a 3-and-2 winner over U.S. Solheim Cup partner Natalie Gulbis.
Kim defeated Wendy Doolan 5 and 4 and is setup for a second-round match against fellow Korean Sarah Lee.
``The course plays longer for me. I played Wendy Doolan, who's a long hitter. The course played a little tough, but her short game wasn't working well,'' said Kim, who overcame her lack of driving power with fairway prowess.
Top-seeded Lorena Ochoa easily advanced to the second-round, beating South Africa's Ashleigh Simon 6 and 5, matching the largest margin of victory in the three-year history of the event set by Annika Sorenstam last year.
Sorenstam needed 20 holes to beat Katherine Hull to advance to the second round.
``It was a thriller. There was a lot of drama out there. We played some good golf, especially the last back nine. It was birdies back and forth. It was tough." said Sorenstam.
``It's key for me to just get to play, and the more holes, the better. I didn't really expect to play this many. I didn't want it to be that dramatic,'' she said.
With the field of 64 now narrowed down to 32, the top-16 players will advance to Sunday's third-round when the competition will heat up with the possibility of playing four more matches. The winner will walk away with a $500,000 check _ a quarter of the $2 million purse.