LOTTE Championship: Reflections on the Final 9

The final 9 holes at the LOTTE Championship produced some exciting golf and some lessons on the spirit of the game.

The LOTTE Championship, particularly the back nine of the 4th round, produced some of the most exciting golf I’ve seen in some time at any of the pro events. And one of the aspects of that amazing back nine was that three of the four contenders for the win weren’t top-ranked players.

Let’s turn the clock back to the start of the final round at the LOTTE Championship. Katie Burnett teed off with a one shot lead over Su-Yeon Jang. They were playing the final round in a threesome with 2015 US Women’s Open champion In Gee Chun.

KAPOLEI, HI – APRIL 16: Katie Burnett plays a tee shot on the fifth hole during the final round of the LPGA LOTTE Championship. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images) /

Burnett, playing her 3rd year on the Tour, was ranked 195th by Rolex and Jang, who was ranked 84th and plays on the KLPGA, earned her tee time at the LOTTE with a win the previous week and a sponsor invite. Chun, who’s ranked 6th in the world, had been delivering a first class game all week and was trailing Burnett by 2 shots.

Burnett had never held the 54 hole lead in a pro event. She had only one top 10 finish on her resume. It had to be a heart-stopping situation for her. For Jang it was probably only slightly less stressful but made easier by the fact that she and Chun had attended high school together and played together on the Korean National Team.

I’ve been closely following Katie Burnett for a year or so, watching her game slowly improve and waiting for her to start getting into contention. But I believed In Gee Chun would probably chew Burnett and Jang up and spit them out on her way to victory.

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By the time the final group made the turn Burnett, who’d gained another shot and was at 14-under par, was still looking like she was in charge. I was revising my thinking and planning how I’d write about Burnett’s first pro win. Chun and Jang seemed to have leveled off at 12-under. Burnett was playing like she was on cruise control. Nobody in the groups in front of them seemed to be a factor.

Then 17th ranked Minjee Lee got hot. She’d started her round trailing Katie Burnett by 5 shots. At the turn she was trailing by four. In a matter of 7 holes Minjee fired off 4 birdies and an eagle and picked up six shots. That’s some incredible golf! By the time she was standing on the 18th tee box Lee was at 16-under par.

The final group – Burnett, Jang and Chun – was 2 holes back. Burnett was also at 16-under, Chun at 15-under and Jang at 14-under par. Every drive was critical. Every putt was a potential win and a potential loss. All three were pushed to a new level of excellence in their play. There were near-impossible but perfectly executed downhill lies out of greenside bunkers. There were putts that seems almost magical. There were drives that soared high and straight and true. The tension was palpable.

I’d started thinking playoff and having flashbacks to last year, and that amazing hole-out Sei Young Kim delivered to snatch victory from Inbee Park. Then Katie Burnett missed a putt. It was a downhill slider, not an easy putt make, one that required a delicate balance of confidence, authority, and finesse. She knew what was at stake. And she knew she had only 2 holes remaining to get that shot back and force Minjee Lee into a playoff. She couldn’t do it. She parred 17 and 18 and the win eluded her.

The LOTTE Championship is in Katie Burnett’s rearview mirror. She’s headed to San Francisco and Swinging Skirts with her confidence buoyed and her spirits high.

"“You know, it means everything is heading in the right direction and that my coach and I, during the off-season, and my fitness coach, we were all working in the right direction and making progress basically to play better.” – Katie Burnett"

I’m looking forward to seeing more of Katie Burnett and to writing about her first pro win, whenever it comes.

And Minjee Lee? The LOTTE Championship was her 2nd Tour win and she now joins an elite circle of players to claim their 2nd victory before their 20th birthday: Lydia Ko, Lexi Thompson, Marlene Hagge and Sandra Haynie.

In Gee Chun has shown again that she’s a remarkable golfer and a superb sportswoman and Su-Yeon Jang will return to the 2017 LOTTE Championship and eventually find her way onto the LPGA’s big stage, where she will most certainly claim a space.

Next: Women's Golf: 10 to Watch in 2016

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