How They Got To The Final

 

In-Bee Park was the medalist at this year’s championship. She finished stroke play with a two-day total of 140 after firing consecutive rounds of 1-under-par 70. In Tuesday’s second round, she made a birdie putt on the ninth green, her 18th hole of the day, to finish her round at 1-under, edging out Michelle Wie and Sujkin Lee Wuesthoff as the championship’s low scorer in stroke play.

In stroke-play qualifying, Park recorded nine birdies, including six birdies in the second round alone. She failed to score better only because she combined those birdies with a total of seven bogeys.

In her four rounds of match play, she has played with the kind of poise and mental toughness which made her the 2002 U.S. Girls’ Junior champion.

Her toughest match, arguably, came in the second round against Marina Choi of Los Angeles, Calif. Park never trailed Choi, but did find herself all square for three holes late in the match, from the 12th to the 14th hole. She ultimately gained the lead after holing a short birdie putt on the par-3 15th hole and matched Choi on the remaining three holes, scoring par-par-bogey, to win the match, 1 up.

Park was forced to play her best in her semifinal match against Paula Creamer, of Pleasanton, Calif. Creamer matched Park shot for shot on the opening nine before committing several mental errors on the back side and ultimately handing Park the win.

Her other three matches have been relatively smooth sailing. She defeated Japanese-born Lala Anai, of Lexington, Mass., the winner of Wednesday morning’s 10-for-1 playoff, 6 and 5. Though Park coasted to the victory after winning seven straight holes, beginning at the par-5 7th, she was 1 down, for two holes early in that match. Surprisingly, this was Park’s worst scoring match, as she had only one birdie and two bogeys.

Park defeated Whitney Wade, of Glasgow, Ky., 5 and 4, in her third-round match, losing only three holes and winning four straight holes, beginning at the 11th, to end the match at the 14th green.

In her most recent match, a quarterfinal showdown against Hsiao-Ching Lu, of Chinese Taipei, she didn’t lose a single hole, winning the first two holes and gradually building on the lead, winning 6 and 5.

In her five matches, she has 20 total birdies, giving her 29 birdies overall for the championship.

Sukjin Lee-Wuesthoff is playing in her fifth U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship, and is playing in her first final. She posted two solid scores in stroke play, finishing tied for second place with Michelle Wie and only one stroke behind the medalist and her opponent in the final, In-Bee Park. Wuesthoff shot even-par 71 in her first round, then bettered that a day later with a 1-under-par 70, and was the leader in the clubhouse between Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, when the second round of stroke play was suspended due to thunderstorms. Though Park earned medalist honors after draining a clutch putt at the ninth green, Wuesthoff’s solid play in the early rounds gave her an ideal seed for match play.

Wuesthoff never trailed in match play until Friday’s semifinal match against Mina Harigae, a match she won, 2 up. Harigae jumped out to a 2-up lead after three holes in that match, but Wuesthoff was able to square the match by the seventh hole, then grabbed the lead at the par-5 11th. She went 2 up at the 12th hole when Harigae made a double-bogey six to her four.

Wuesthoff had a challenging second-round match against Song Yi, of San Diego, Calif. Though she was never behind in this match, Wuesthoff maintained a slim 1-up lead throughout, winning the first hole and playing consistent par golf from there. She lost only three holes on the day, but was often able to regroup after dropping a hole to win the next, thus maintaining momentum and control of the match.

Her other three matches have been relatively easy. Wuesthoff beat Sara Hurwitch, of Potomac Falls, Va., 5 and 4, in the first round; Jane Park, a competitor in the 2003 U.S. Women’s Open, 4 and 2 in the third round; and Esther Choe, a 13-year old from La Quinta, Calif., 3 and 2, in the quarterfinals. In all these matches, Wuesthoff played consistent golf. She never made many birdies in a single match – the most she has made is three, in her first and third rounds – but she has excelled at matching, or bettering, her competitor shot for shot. She’ll need to play her best golf to beat defending champion Park.