Corning 2003: Getting the Kang of It

Soo-Yun Kang is not a rookie on the LPGA. You may not be aware of that because, well, can you honestly remember seeing her play out here before this year? As a matter of fact, though, she did play out here in 2001, as a non-exempt rookie fresh from a Player of the Year performance in Korea on the KLPGA. That year she was only able to get into three fields all year, and only made the cut in one of them.

So though she is not a rookie, in many ways she is. With only a few LPGA events under her belt before this year (including an appearance at the Samsung World Championship in 2000 and a few other scattered invites), and no golden exempt card until this season, she has never had the chance to get into the flow of playing in America. And as experience has shown time and again, even the great Korean players need a dozen or so events to get their sea legs.

Soo Yun tries to coax one in

Well, after just 8 events, we can safely say that Experiment Kang Soo Yun is going very well indeed. So far in 2003, including the Corning Classic, she has played in 8 events, missed only two cuts, made two top tens, and had three other top 30 performances. As of Corning, she is 18th on the money list, and continues to impress the commentators and fans alike with her poise, talent, and style. If she holds true to the Korean pattern and starts to improve as she gets more comfortable, one can only imagine what we could be seeing from her by the middle of the summer. But her past achievements suggest that she could eventually join the Big Four (Hee-Won, Grace, Se Ri and Mi Hyun) as yet another Korean threat to win whenever she is in the field.

Even Soo Yun's raingear is striking
Star Gazette/Rebecca Towns

What was particularly impressive about Corning, which would become her second best event of the year, is that it started out fairly average. She shot an even par 72 in the first round, and though she was playing relatively strongly in terms of her long and short game, somehow things just weren't coming together for her. At this particular course, people were going low with a vengeance; the first round lead was 8 under, and Soo Yun ended the round tied for 70th and in danger of missing the cut.

But Soo Yun did not win all those events internationally without being able to rise to a challenge, and she knew she had been playing decently in the first round but just did not get the ball to roll her way. So in the second round she stormed out, and when all was said and done, had shot the low round of the day and tournament so far, an 8 under 64. This pole vaulted her from 70th into the top ten, and suddenly she was the top Korean on the leaderboard. Unfortunately she was still four shots out of the lead, and there were a number of great players ahead of her. A win was still possible, but it would take some great golf to pull it off.

In the third round Soo Yun was paired with Hall of Famer Beth Daniel. It was a treat for her to play with a player of such accomplishments. But as often happens when Soo Yun tees it up, by the end of the day, the commentators were once again voicing how impressed they were with her game and demeanor. Kay Cockerill remarked that Soo Yun was 'a very appealing player', and Donna Caponi also had complimentary things to say. But though Soo Yun kept herself in range of the leaders all day, she was not able to make a move up the leaderboard. Finally on the last hole, she hit a great approach that clanked off the flag stick and rolled to 15 feet from the pin, producing an appreciative 'Ooo' from the crowd and a big smile from Kang. The 18th green had defied players all day; something about it made it difficult to read. No problem for Soo Yun, though, who buried the mid range birdie putt which should have been a tap-in but for the unfortunate flag hit. She unleashed a fist pump with gusto and picked up her ball. A 4 under 68 left her in 7th place, still five shots out of the lead.

Soo Yun finishes Round 3 with a birdie on 18
Reuters/Gary Wiepert