2003 Wendy's Championship

I'm not sure exactly how I should handle an investiture. But it seems clear to me that Hee-Won deserves some kind of ceremony to celebrate her most excellent play of the past three years.

Perhaps I should backtrack. When this website first started, it was intended to celebrate the feats of three golfers from Korea who had excelled in their chosen sport like few others. Those three were Se Ri Pak, Mi Hyun Kim and Grace Park. They were dubbed the Seoul Sisters, and the word went out throughout the land that they were good. Really good.

But a funny thing started to happen. Namely, that the achievements of these three ladies in turn inspired dozens of others to try their shot at greatness. And it proved to be more than idle whimsy on their part, for these other talented golfers were soon making a lot of noise in the LPGA themselves. And so the dilemma: should the Seoul Sisters evermore be just the Original Three? Or should we introduce an Extra Crispy one into the mix?

Se Ri Pak was the original Seoul Sister

Hee-Won Han had a breakout 2002
season

And so the powers that be (namely, me), huddled (try huddling with yourself some time, it's fun!), and contemplated, and wrestled with the question, and decided that adding players to the most august ranks of the Sisterhood required that they meet the extremely high standards that the Sisterhood demanded. Though there were several talented Korean players who had impressed us with their gifts, only two players really were knocking on the door of greatness at that time: Gloria Park and Hee-Won Han. The problem was, neither one was entirely worthy of the honor. Hee-Won Han had the Rookie of the Year award, and had certainly proved her talent by notching three second place finishes and a 14th place on the money list in 2002. But she was unable to win, and how, after all, can you make a player a Seoul Sister with no wins on her resume? Gloria had the wins, and some impressive scores, but was wildly inconsistent, going months at times without a top ten. How could you reward inconsistency?

Hee-Won may have been knocking at the door in 2002, but in 2003 she has approached the door, kicked it out with a piledriving motion that would make Jackie Chan proud, and stormed past the threshold without breaking stride. In other words, greatness was required of her, and greatness is exactly what she has delivered. No doubts, no questions. This last month alone was as impressive an achievement as those of the other Sisters: in her last four events, she has three top twos including two wins. She proved she could win, she proved she could beat great players to do it, and (most importantly), she proved she could triumph even when severely challenged in the cauldron of a playoff situation. She has the heart, the head, and the smile. She's in, baby.

And so, back to my original quandary. How do you inaugurate someone into the Sisterhood, exactly? We have no written constitution, no bylaws, no sergeant-at-arms. But fortunately, my crack team of researchers has uncovered a previously unknown scroll with an intriguing ode inscribed on it. Formerly lodged in the deep recesses of a golf range ball machine in Daejeon, South Korea, the scroll has the ode and three familiar names inscribed on it. As I now affix my seal and the name 'Hee Won Han' on the vellum parchment, I will recite the ode, loosely translated from the original Hangul, of course:

I dub thee Sister!

Only for those who can really swing
Only for those whose smiles light the world
Only for those who live to win and never retreat
Is the Sisterhood

As it should have been from the Beginning
And it ought to be for a While Longer,
Those inscribed below have earned their place and shall be venerated
as the most noble and honored Sisters of Seoul

Pak Se Ri. Kim Mi Hyun. Park Ji Eun (aka Grace).