Fairways and Greens

Soo Yun, Young Kim take part in SBS Championship
The week after the PAVV Invitational, the KLPGA hosted the SBS Championship, which, like the PAVV, featured a couple of LPGA stars in the field. The PAVV (as detailed last issue) was won by Soo Yun Kang, while Shi Hyun Ahn finished tied for second. Shi Hyun returned to the States to take part in the Asahi Ryokuken Championship, but Soo Yun played the SBS. The other Korean LPGA star in the field was Young Kim, who won the SBS last year and was thus returning as defending champion.

(By the way, the men's version of this event was taking place simultaneously. You may recall that this was the event Se Ri played last year, becoming the first woman in 58 years to make the cut in a men's golf tournament).

The tournament itself only ended up being two rounds long (it was scheduled for three), presumably because of weather, although I have not been able to confirm that. In the end, neither LPGA star was able to collect the hardware at this year's SBS. The winner was a little known KLPGA player named Yoo Jin Jee. It was her first career victory. Soo Yun finished in 6th place, and Young Kim 8th, but they were tied for the lead after the first round, only to struggle when the second round was finally played. Who knows how things might have been different had a third round been played, but top ten finishes certainly did not let their many fans down.

Korean stars return to Korea!
The Korean stars of the LPGA are returning to their home country in droves to compete in the upcoming CJ 9 Bridges Classic event at Cheju Island. The past two years, the winners of this event have both been Korean: Se Ri Pak in 2002, and Shi Hyun Ahn last year. Can they continue the trend?

As usually happens when they come home, the players were greeted by cameramen, reporters and ballyhoo at the airport. Their return was big news and made the papers and the evening news. Collected here are some of the photos of the ladies returning. Particularly poignant are the photos of Se Ri Pak, especially when she uses her father for support, as she does in some of the photos presented here. You can tell it's been a rough time in her life, but she still is happy to be back home. Enjoy the photos! And if you want to see a Korean news broadcast of their return, click here (of course, it's in Korean, but the video footage is what matters!).

For those who are interested, here are the plans of the ladies in the next few days. Se Ri Pak will play in a Japanese tour event called the Japanese Ladies Masters. She is not even returning to her home town, but rather will stay at the Lotte Hotel in Seoul until she leaves for the event Wednesday morning. Grace is looking forward to a Skins game in Beijing next week, then the CJ 9 Bridges Classic. Hee-Won Han will give a clinic in Bundang, Seongnam City, on October 21st. She will then visit an orphanage in Seoul to spread good cheer. SeoulSisters.com will be sure to present any photos of these events that we can find!

Money List
Grace added a bunch more money to her total thanks to two consecutive second place finishes, but still was not able to move up on the list at all. Meanwhile, JJ added two 6th place finishes, and Mi Hyun got her incredible 15th top ten of the year at the Samsung. Se Ri Pak finally returned to competition, and although she struggled mightily at the Samsung, still added $11,000 to her total to remain in 9th place. If she is going to finish the season in the top ten, she'll need to somehow find it in herself to notch at least one more top finish in her two remaining events (she will apparently not attend the Tournament of Champions or Tour Championship this year). Meanwhile, Soo Young Moon, by virtue of her finish at the Asahi, clinched her exempt card for 2005. Had she missed the cut there, she would have been 91st, and only the top 90 get cards! Whew!