Hite Cup Women's Open

The 6th annual Hite Cup Women's Open took place from Thursday, October 20 - Saturday, October 22, in Kyeongi province. It's not really clear why the event did not end on Sunday, like most golf events do, but the KLPGA sometimes does things a little differently (last month, they even had a KLPGA event take place from Wednesday - Friday, which must have made it difficult for fans to attend!).

Hite is a beer company (much like Michelob sponsors the Michelob Ultra Open on the LPGA tour), and so is distinguished from other golf events by the prominent beer trucks on the ground, serving the company's product to fans who attend.

This week attracted a fair number of LPGA golfers, including at least one non-Korean: Charlotta Sorenstam, the frequently overshadowed younger sister of that other Sorenstam (there were also two other westerners in the field, but they were not LPGA golfers). From the Korean contingent, the most prominent LPGA star present was Soo-Yun Kang, who was hoping to improve on her rather weak performance in her last event, the Longs Drugs Challenge, where she made the cut but finished well back in the standings. Among the other notable LPGA stars in attendance were Birdie Kim, Il Mi Chung, Aree and Naree Song, Seol-An Jeon, Joo Mi Kim, Sung Ah Yim, and Futures Tour LPGA card holders Seon-Hwa Lee and Kyeong Bae. And of course, most of the top KLPGA players were also ready to rumble.

The conditions were rough all week, with poor weather and cold temperatures haunting the ladies. As a result, the scores were high, and the winner would end up shooting over par, a rare occurrence on the KLPGA tour.

After round one, the leader was KLPGA teen sensation Na Yeon Choi. She shot a 3 under par 69 (1 bogey, four birdies). A lesser known golfer named Son Wook Yim shot 2 under, and KLPGAer Na Ri Kim was the only other player to break par, shooting a one under par 71.

Among those tied for fourth at even par were Kangsy, Joo Mi Kim, and Il Mi Chung. Bo Bae Song had some sort of problem on the par 5 10th hole with a bunker shot and got a double bogey, leading to an eventual 76. From the picture evidence, it looks as though her ball got lost somewhere near the bunker, probably because it got plugged in the wet grass. She enlisted her playing partners Charlotta Sorenstam and Na Ri Kim in helping her find the ball.

Birdie Kim ended up dropping out of the tournament on the 15th hole with stomach problems; sounds like she ate something bad the night before.

In round 2, the conditions got much tougher, and the cream rose to the top. Na Yeon Choi, who won last year's ADT-CAPS tournament, struggled. She did manage 4 birdies, but also had four bogies. However, her waterloo came on the 16th hole, where she made a triple bogey. Thus she wound up with a 3 over 75 for the day, and fell back to even par for the tournament.

Soo-Yun Kang played an up and down round, notching 4 bogies but offsetting that with four birdies for a second day of even par golf. As it turned out, even par was good enough to tie her for the lead; no one in the field was under par for the tournament after two rounds.

But at least one golfer went under par for the day: Seon Hwa Lee, who followed her first day 73 with a 71 in round two to also take a share of the lead at even par. So Kangsy, the wily veteran: Lee, the Futures Tour champ; and Choi, the KLPGA Rookie sensation, all were tied at the top.

Meanwhile, Joo Mi Kim struggled a bit on Friday and shot a 3 over par 75 to fall into a tie for 8th, 3 over for the event. Bo Bae Song followed her horrendous first round with a decent even par in round two, vaulting up to the top ten (9th) with a +4 total. Charlotta Sorenstam shot one over and sat at +5 for the week.

Soo-Yun Kang tests the wind before hitting

Soo-Yun tries to will the ball into the hole

Na Yeon Choi

Bo Bae Song in round 1

Seon-Hwa Lee and a very big glass of beer!

The conditions were brutal on the final day. So much so that the winning score proved to be over par. That brought a lot of golfers into the tournament, but who would get the job done and collect the trophy?

Soo-Yun Kang got off to a terrible start, with a bogey on the first hole and a double bogey five on the second. But after that she settled down and parred out the rest of the front nine. In these conditions, that meant she still was in the game with a chance to win.

Seon-Hwa Lee, playing in the final group with Kangsy and Na Yeon Choi, had her own struggles. She double bogied the 3rd, bogied the 4th, and bogied the 6th to go out in 40. She was at +4 at the turn. Meanwhile, Na Yeon Choi, who also started the day at even par, went out with three bogies and a birdie to turn at +2. So she had the lead, but all three ladies were still in it.

A few groups ahead, Bo Bae Song was asserting herself. She had started the event with a +4 round, thanks largely to a double bogey on the par 5 10th hole in round 1. But she had shot even par in round 2, and on this day, she had three bogies and two birdies on the front nine to sit at +5. On the back, she played even better, notching two more birdies and just one bogey to finish at +4. Considering the struggles the others in the fields were having, this seemed like a possible winning score.

Kangsy hit a speed bump on the 11th hole with a bogey, but a punishing double on 12 put her 6 over for the day and four shots out of the lead. She would need some birdies coming in to have a chance, but she parred out and wound up with a 78. She would finish in solo 6th place.

Choi, meanwhile, birdied 10 to move to 1 over, but then had two bogies on 11 and 13 to fall back to 3 over. Lee birdied 10 as well, and kept making pars to stay at 3 over. Another bogey by Choi on 15 put Lee into a one shot lead at 3 over, with Song and Choi one shot back. If Lee could avoid making any mistakes, she could claim the win...

And that's what happened! Lee parred out, Choi had one more bogey and one more birdie, and Seon-Hwa Lee became the champion of the 6th Hite Open with a 3 over par total. It was her third career win on the KLPGA tour. Choi and Bo Bae tied for second at 4 over par with Joo Mi Kim finishing 4th at 5 over par.

With both Kyeong Bae and Seon Hwa Lee winning on the KLPGA tour in 2005, it looks like we have two exciting rookies coming to the LPGA tour in 2006!