2005 ADT-CAPS Championship

The final event of the KLPGA season, the ADT-CAPS Championship, was played on Cheju Island at the Sky Hill Golf Course (par 72) from November 4 - 6.

Last year, unknown teen amateur Na Yeon Choi stunned Se Ri Pak by winning the event, while Se Ri finished tied for second several shots back. This year, Choi is a pro and has been embroiled in a tough battle for Rookie of the Year with Hee Young Park, who won the PAVV Invitational and recently took 4th at the CJ 9 Bridges; and Jee Young Lee, who won the CJ and the Korean Women's Open in 2005. Park had a 40 point lead over Choi going into this final event, but a win is worth 150 pts and a second place 80 pts, so Choi still had a shot of taking the Rookie of the Year award.

In round 1, the surprise leader was little heralded So Young Park. She had an interesting front nine: she had bookend bogies on holes 1 and 9, eagled the par 4 2nd from the fairway, and notched 4 other birdies for a four under par 32. On the back nine, she added one more birdie for her final total of -5.

Tied for second was Woo Ri Choi, who won the Meritz Financial just a few weeks ago, and Super Rookie Hee Young Park. Both ladies shot 3 under 69s. Bo Bae Song shot a 70, while her main competition for player of the year, Kyeong Bae and Seon Hwa Lee, shot 72 and 71, respectively.

The second round of the ADT-CAPS was canceled due to poor weather. The rain and fog was so bad that they halted play by 10 am, and by 11:30 decided to cancel the day entirely. All scores from Saturday were thrown out, and the event was shortened to a 36 hole tournament.

However, the horrible weather continued on Sunday. They were delayed starting for a few hours by fog and rain. When they finally got out there, as you can imagine, no one played particularly well, and some people had very high scores.

Eventually, they were not able to finish the round, and postponed it until Monday. When they did this, the leading score was +2. Two players sat at that score: rookie Hae Jong Kim and Hee Sun Hong. Bo Bae Song had been at that score but bogied the 17th hole, her final hole before darkness fell, to fall to 3 over. The tournament was to resume starting at 11 am on Monday.

Meanwhile, some of the golfers had finished, including Kyeong Bae, whose final total was +4. This would be good enough for her to secure the money list title unless Bo Bae managed to win the event. Bo Bae needed to either birdie 18, or the two ahead of her had to fall back to 3 over.

But Hee Young Park clinched Rookie of the Year. Even though she was not done with her round, she sat at +6, and her nearest rookie competition, Na Yeon Choi, was in the house at +10. There was no mathematical way that Choi could make up the 40 points to catch Park. Great job for the star-in-the-making!

Things restarted on schedule on Monday, and eventually both Kim and Hong ended up tied for the lead at +2 at the end of the 18th hole. Thus, they went to a playoff. Bo Bae, meanwhile, bogied her final hole, falling into a tie for third with Kyeong Bae and Joo Mi Kim at 4 over par. Thus, Bae secured her Money List title, with Song finishing second. Bae's season ending total money of 195,237,450 won, however, was not enough to eclipse Se Ri's record.

Defending Champ Na Yeon Choi

Woo Ri Choi got into contention early

Bo Bae fought hard through the long week

Hee Sun Hong

Hae Jong Kim kisses the very unusual trophy for
this tournament.

In the playoff, the two combatants tied on the first two holes. On the third playoff hole, however, Hong missed a 1.2 m par putt, and rookie Hae Jong Kim won her first event. Hong finished second.

So the KLPGA season comes to an end. Two of the top three players on that tour's money list, Kyeong Bae and third place Seon Hwa Lee (who finished 23rd at this event), will be joining the LPGA as rookies in 2006. The others will stay on the KLPGA tour next year, but look for Song, Na Yeon Choi and Hee Young Park to be coming to an LPGA course near you sometime in the next few years.

In the end, Kyeong Bae beat Bo Bae Song on the money list, but Song beat Bae in Player of the Year points and scoring average. Be sure to check out the final standings by clicking the link below!