Fairways and Greens

Time Asia features the Seoul Sisters as Asian Heroes
The October 11th issue of Time Asia had a cover story on Asian Heroes, Asians from all walks of life that are doing amazing things. Featured among the Sports Heroes section was a story about the Seoul Sisters which focused on Aree Song (you may recall last issue that we showed a photo session Aree took part in for this article). The best part? Aree was featured on one of the four covers produced for this issue in one of those nice dresses! Wow, that's quite an honor, the cover of Time magazine at the age of 18!

I'm happy to say that this website was able to help in the writing of this article. The reporter called me a few weeks ago and asked me a bunch of questions about the Sisters. She ended up quoting me in the article, and used some of the other info I provided as well. Always great to help spread the word about these talented athletes!

Although you may not be able to pick up a copy of the magazine, you can read it online HERE.

Aree makes the cover of Time's Asian edition

Christina Kim can't believe it: she'll play in
the Samsung for the first time in her career

8 out of 20 in Samsung field are Korean!!
The field of the Samsung World Championship of Women's Golf has been announced, and an amazing 8 Korean or Korean American players have qualified. That's out of just twenty total. The field for this event comprises the winners of Majors, year ending prizes, and the top players on tour. Up until last year, it also included, automatically, the leading players on the European, Japanese and Korean tours, but apparently this year, the latter two were not invited. That's a pity, as it was always fun to see how those players stacked up against the world's best (although they rarely did all that well), but apparently this year Samsung decided to use one of those two spots as a sponsor's exemption. To no one's surprise, they used it on Michelle Wie, who would probably get exempted into every LPGA tournament all year if it were allowed.

The Korean players are nonetheless well represented. Grace Park had already qualified for the event by winning the Nabisco, and Se Ri got in by winning the Vare Trophy last year. The other Koreans got in by virtue of their money list positions: #6 Mi Hyun Kim, #8 Hee-Won Han, #16 Jeong Jang and #17 Shi Hyun Ahn. Of all those players, only Jang has never won an LPGA event. Add onto that Wie and #12 Christina Kim, who are Korean Americans, and you have a total of eight players of Korean origin in the field. With all those talented Seoul Sisters in the field, you gotta think that at least a couple of them will contend for the top prize on Sunday!

Shi Hyun Ahn wins Rookie of the Year
Congratulations to Shi Hyun Ahn, who with her top twenty finish at this week's Asahi Ryokuken has secured the Rookie of the Year award on the LPGA tour for 2004. This makes the fourth time in the past seven seasons that a Korean has won this award, and the first time since 2001. The others were Se Ri Pak (1998), Mi Hyun Kim (1999), and Hee-Won Han (2001). In addition, Grace Park came within a hair's breadth of winning the award in 2000, but injuries laid her up. Last year, Young Kim was second on the Rookie list, but finished well behind the winner Lorena Ochoa (though ahead of other more hyped players, including Suzann Pettersen, Paula Marti and Christina Kim).

In 2004, the competition for this award quickly turned into a slugfest between three players with Korean blood. Shi Hyun struck first, notching a pair of top fives at her first two events of 2004. But then it was Aree Song's turn: she very nearly won the year's first Major after sinking an unlikely eagle on the final hole. She ended up finishing second to Grace Park. A month later, it was Seol-An Jeon who leapt into the spotlight, slugging it out with Cristie Kerr through seven playoff holes at the Takefuji Classic before losing. Then Shi Hyun managed a solo second place finish at the McDonald's LPGA Championship, the year's second Major.

Eventually, though, Shi Hyun's consistency overwhelmed the other two ladies. She ended up with 787 points, earned through six top tens, five of which were top fives, and two of which were second places (she pretty much clinched the award by finishing second at the John Q. Hammons Hotel Classic last month). Interestingly, both times she finished second she lost to Annika Sorenstam. She also had a good chance to win the second event of the year, going into the final round only one shot off the lead, but had a bad final round, and finished fifth (again Sorenstam won). Aree Song finished second with 623 points, and third was Seol-An Jeon with 469 points. A truly amazing 1-2-3 finish for the Koreans.

Shi Hyun is currently 17th on the money list, and her great play qualified her for the Samsung World Championship, as well as the ADT Tour Championship. It was her goal right from the start of the season to win this award (she missed out on it in Korea, losing to the formidable Ju Mi Kim, who also won KLPGA Player of the Year in 2003). With her talent, charisma, fashion sense, high money list finish, and now this award, Shi Hyun also looks on the fast track to become the fifth official Seoul Sister on this site! But until that obviously great honor is bestowed, she'll just have to settle for celebrating this Rookie award. Congrats!

Shi Hyun Ahn has reason to smile: she is the latest
Korean player to win the LPGA's Rookie of the
Year award. Could Seoul Sisterhood be next?

Shi Hyun Ahn: 2004 LPGA Rookie of the Year

Grace will definitely be picked to
represent Korea at the Women's World Cup.
Should Se Ri Pak join her?

World Cup Selection Criteria Released
Next year, for the first time in a few years, there will be a World Cup of Women's Golf, a team event involving countries from all over the world, not just from Europe and the States. The LPGA has recently published the selection criteria. Countries qualify for this event based on position on the LPGA and European Tour Money lists. The top 20 countries on the money list will send two representatives to this tournament, which takes place early next year in South Africa.

No problem for the Koreans, who currently have four players in the LPGA top ten. But here's where it gets interesting: the top player from each country is required to be one of the representatives on the team (presuming, of course, that that player wants to go). That means, if the season were to end today, Grace Park would be automatic. She probably would be a selection anyway, so no problem.

But the other player is picked by the governing golf body of the country in question, not by money list position. If it were based on money list, right now Mi Hyun Kim would be the automatic second choice. But many people believe Se Ri Pak ought to be the second player. Or should she? Has she fallen so far that one of the other great Korean players, like Mi Hyun, Hee-Won Han or Shi Hyun Ahn, should get the selection instead? Or more to the point: will the Korean organization in charge of choosing pick one of those ladies instead of the recent Hall of Famer Pak? Personally, I believe they will go with Se Ri come hell or high water, but it will be interesting to see what actually happens, and what the reaction to it is in Korea. Stay tuned.

Cool new photos of Grace Park, Young Kim, Soo Yun Kang
While gadding about the internet, I dug up a few nice photos of Grace Park, Soo Yun Kang and Young Kim that I had never seen before. For your edification, I present them here. The Young Kim photos came from her official web site, which is in Korean, but is well worth checking out if you are a fan of the lady:

http://kimyoung.shinsegae.co.kr/

Enjoy!

Money List
Christina Kim took a huge leap in her career with her win at the Longs Drugs Challenge. Not only did she pocket a cool 150 grand, but this win vaulted her from 22nd to 12th on the money list, the highest she has ever been on that list this late in the season, and also qualified her for the Samsung World Championship, the Tournament of Champions and the ADT Tour Championship. Hee-Won continues to cruise along with another top five, and Mi Hyun Kim notched an incredible 14th top ten to maintain her position on the list. Although Shi Hyun slipped down the list this week, she still stayed high enough to also qualify for the Samsung, as did Jeong Jang, both for the first time.