Rookie Profile: Seol-An Jeon

Seol-An Jeon is perhaps the most surprising story among the Korean players in 2004. She seems to have come out of nowhere to become one of the best players on the LPGA tour. But what is her real story?

Seol-An was born in 1981 in Seoul, South Korea (a real Seoul Sister!). She did not start playing golf regularly until she was 15; that was in 1996! Within a few years, she got good enough to start winning amateur tournaments, and after she went to Kyung Hee University, she had more success, including winning the 2000-2001 Korean University tournament. In 2002 she turned pro, and came to play on the Futures Tour, the American tour that acts as a developmental tour for the LPGA.

Seol-An Jeon at the Takefuji

Seol-An very nearly won this
year's Takefuji Classic

In 2003, she managed five top tens on that tour and finished 11th on the money list. Not bad results, but nothing that would suggest she'd be anything more than a struggling player were she to join the LPGA. She did not get her automatic exempt card like Soo Young Moon and Ju Kim did, so she had to go to Q-School. There she surprised most observers by finishing 12th to gain a full exemption for 2004.

Despite that result, few were prepared for what happened next. In her very first tournament as an LPGA pro, she shot four rounds in the 60s at the Welch's/Fry's Championship and finished 8th, tied with Se Ri Pak among others. She had a few more so-so finishes after that, and many might have thought that would be the last we'd hear of her. But then came the Takefuji Classic, where by the final day she had risen to solo second place. Cristie Kerr still looked like she had it in the bag, but made several mistakes coming in, and eventually fell into a tie with Seol-An. They would go on to play a seven hole sudden death play-off, the longest on the LPGA tour in thirty years. Though Seol-An finally lost, it was still a play-off full of clutch par saves and big smiles from her.