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2003 Report Cards
Hee-Won Han, Mi Hyun Kim
Jeong Jang, Soo-Yun Kang
Gloria Park, Jung Yeon Lee
Some other players
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Money list total: $452,778 (25th) |
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Notable achievements: JJ in fact played well at all four Majors, continuing her habit of good play in Majors. This was also her best year in terms of scoring average and position on the money list. She also tied her mark for most top tens in a season. |
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Assessment: Indeed, her play in the Majors has continued to be one of her strongest suits. This year, besides the 6th at the Open, she finished 21st at the Nabisco, 11th at the LPGA Championship and 14th at the British Open. She continues to be fairly accurate off the tee, but not very long. Her putting is good, but she does not hit a ton of greens. When she is on her game, she can play quite well, but she did not contend very often this year. Jang's ace in the hole is her age. She is still only 23 years old, and is heading in the right direction careerwise. What she should work on: |
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| B | Summary: A very good year for Jeong in terms of money made and top tens. But still not as consistent as her rookie year, and not as many good performances in Majors as 2002. |
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Scoring Average: 71.05 (15th)
Player of the Year Total: 19.83 (34th)
Wins: 0
Majors: 0 (no top tens)
Top 2's: 1
Top 5's: 1
Top 10's: 6
Missed cuts: 5
Birdies: 250 (32nd)
Eagles: 5 (T-30)
Greens in Regulation: .650 (55th)
Other notable stats: T-40th in driving accuracy (74.0%); 45th in putting (29.73); 57th in driving distance (253.6 yards); 1st in sand saves (.561), T-18th Rounds in the 60s (23), T-22 Rounds under par (38), 7th in putting (28.98)
Notable achievements:
Soo Yun Kang led the league in sand saves. She also was one of the top
ten putters on tour, with an impressive average below 29 putts per round.
This is particularly hard for a Korean newly arrived from Korea.
She also had an excellent scoring average of 71.05, and had a gaggle of rounds under par and in the 60s.
She missed 5 cuts in 2003, but all of those were in the first half of the season.
Assessment:
Soo Yun Kang was not a rookie in 2003. In fact, she had had a rookie season
in 2001 as a non-exempt player, and had not done very well. This was a
much better performance all around. She easily qualified for the tour
in Q-School, then played solidly much of the year.
She only contended once, and that was at the Takefuji Classic. Indeed, she was playing well enough in the final round that it looked like a win was imminent, but she stumbled a bit at the end and had to settle for second. She played well in several other events, but never again got herself close enough to have a real chance at the trophy.
Soo Yun showed herself to be resilient. She could be bad, but then turn it on and come back. Nowhere was that better shown than at the Evian, where she followed rounds of 70 and 78 with a 65 and 66 weekend to finish in ninth place. She also played consistently. She did miss five cuts, but her last missed cut was the US Women's Open. After that, she notched 7 top 20s in her final 10 events, and had no finish worse than 37th.
Her scoring average was quite good, and shows that it wasn't all bad scoring that prevented her from contending more often. Indeed, you combine that with a solid number of rounds under par and in the 60s and a great putting average (made all the more great by the fact that Korean players do not usually putt well when they come over to the States) and you had a pretty solid second year for Kang.
Her performance in the Majors was one weak spot. She did not play in the Nabisco, and missed the cut at the next two Majors. At the British Open she had her best Major performance, a 24th place. Hurting her was a decent but not particularly great driving accuracy and greens in regulation percentage. Her driving distance is above average but not by much.
What she should work on:
Soo Yun needs to increase her consistency in terms of hitting greens,
hitting fairways and playing fewer bad rounds. Every indication at the
end of the year was that she was already doing that. It couldn't hurt
if she increased her driving distance a few yards as well.
Soo Yun had a very good year for her initial true effort on the LPGA tour. She easily shattered all her previous standards on this tour. But she still has not reached the potential she has shown in Korea. As she gets more used to playing in the States, that should change.
