2005 Awards

Heartbreaker of the Year:
Jamie Farr Classic
This event has been Se Ri Pak's private playground much of the past 8 years. In fact, even in poor years, she had done well here, and never finished out of the top ten (while collecting four wins). But in 2005, she struggled here just as she had struggled everywhere else, and finished a dismal 36th.

Still, there were other Korean players who were doing well. Entering the final round, Hee-Won Han had staked a nice two shot lead for herself over fellow Korean Jeong Jang. But Hee-Won struggled on Sunday, and on the back nine, she suddenly started hitting some incredibly poor shots. Within just a few holes, she would drop out of the lead. Jang started out poorly herself, would rally later, but could not make up the deficit.

Several other Koreans then started to pick up the slack. Gloria Park made a couple of clutch putts and got into the house at 10 under. A few minutes later, Heather Bowie also finished at 10 under. That was the number to beat, and several Koreans had their chances. Rookie Sung Ah Yim only needed a par on the par 5 to match it, and had a makeable fifteen foot birdie chance to take the outright lead. But not only did she fail to make that, she missed the par save as well to miss the playoff entirely. Then Han reached the 17th at 10 under herself, but missed a short par to fall to 9 under. She could not birdie 18, and she, too, missed the playoff.

So only Gloria Park was left, but despite several brilliant holes, she ended up losing when, on the third playoff hole, she dunked her second shot into a creek. So Bowie took the trophy despite Han, Yim, Park and Jang all being well within range of the win.

Honorable Mention:
Longs Drugs Challenge
Hee-Won again makes just enough mistakes when leading to allow first time winner Nicole Perrot to sneak in and grab the trophy.

Hee-Won was one of four Koreans
with a great chance to win the Farr.
But none of them did.

In-Kyung Kim at the US Girls' Junior

Best Performance by a previously unknown player
In-Kyung Kim
How obscure was In-Kyung Kim at the start of last year? She was a known amateur in Korea, but was virtually unknown here in America. She decided to come over for a few months in the summer to test herself against the top talent here, and promptly showed she was ready to take on the best the US could offer. Based out of South Carolina, she played in three amateur events and won all three. She then entered the US Girl's Junior, one of the most prestigious event in amateur golf. She made short work of her competition, ending up in the finals against longtime amateur standout and fellow Korean In-Bee Park. But it was In-Kyung who walked off with the glory. In-Kyung quickly got out to a 2 up lead and never looked back; she was indeed surprised when she won, because she had believed it was going to be a 36 hole final, not an 18 hole one!

In-Kyung would also put together a solid performance at the US Women's Amateur before returning back to Korea. Watch out for her in the future!

Honorable Mention:
Jee Young Lee, CJ 9 Bridges Classic

Weirdest Trophy
Office Depot Championship
The Office Depot Championship was contested in 2005 at the brand spanking new Trump National course in Rancho Palos Verdes, California. Due to numerous circumstances, the event ended up dragging on and on, and for the first time in years, an event was forced to a non-playoff Monday finish. In the end, the winner was Hee-Won Han, and after the brilliant way she dissected the treacherous course, she certainly deserved it.

But what did she get for her troubles? One of the oddest trophies I have ever seen! It was blue and looked like it had been constructed out of shards of glass collected at a junkyard. If one were not careful, one could seriously cut one's hands when handling it (at least it looked that way). But a trophy is a trophy, and Hee-Won was certainly glad to collect this one!

Honorable Mention:
ADT-Caps Championship (KLPGA Tour)
This trophy, won in 2005 by Hae-Jong Kim, looked like a piece of the monolith from 2001: A Space Odyssey, or perhaps a book that had been left open. Hae Jong was doubly humiliated in that she also had to don one of the weirdest 'victory outfits' of the year while trying to figure out how to pick up the trophy. But at least this trophy could not be used as a lethal weapon like Hee-Won's could!

Hee-Won holds the odd Office Depot prize

Does anyone hear Richard Strauss
playing in the background?

Jee Young and the CJ trophy & hanbok

Coolest Trophy
CJ 9 Bridges Classic
On the other end of the spectrum comes the CJ 9 Bridges Classic trophy, which is a beautiful hand painted porcelain vase that would not look out of place in a museum. Like at the Office Depot, you really had to work to earn this puppy. The weather was atrocious on Cheju Island this year, which makes it all the more impressive that virtual unknown Jee Young Lee ended up earning it, and did so with relative ease (she was never seriously threatened after Saturday). The CJ also boasts the most beautiful trophy ceremony on the LPGA, as the winner dons a gorgeous specially made traditional Korean outfit called a hanbok. The one Grace Park won last year, when they started the tradition, was notably different from the one Lee wore this year.

Honorable Mention:
Hite Open (KLPGA): a trophy that looks like a giant glass of beer. It's either tacky as heck, or incredibly inspired. But considering the event is sponsored by a beer company, I'll go with the latter.

Best Moment at a Team Event:
Christina Kim debuts at the Solheim Cup
Christina Kim is famous (some would say infamous) for her incredible enthusiasm when playing the game of golf. Not for Christina are the little golf waves and quiet acknowledgment of the crowd. Why do that when you can jump up and down, throw a vigorous fist pump, or do a little dance? But even Christina fans had never seen anything to prepare them for Christina at the Solheim Cup. This event is so intense it even encourages the most sedate of players to get a little wild. For a crazy gal like Christina, it was a chance to go completely nuts for three days. She stomped, she cheered, she jumped and swayed. When she was done playing, she was high fiving the crowds, leading them in song, or cheering her fellow teammates. Her display of patriotic fervor was so intense that she simply stole the show away from her teammates, quickly becoming a fan favorite, press favorite AND a favorite with her fellow players (well, the Americans, anyway). And it didn't hurt that she played really, really well. We can't wait for 2007!

A typical Christina reaction during the Solheim Cup

Kangsy played well at the Pinx Cup, but her
decision making left something to be desired

Worst Moment in a Team Event
"Drawing Straws"
In some ways, 2005 was a coming out party for Soo-Yun Kang. Always a superstar in Korea (both in terms of results and popularity), she had been largely overlooked in America. But in 2005, she not only won for the first time on tour, she also finished 14th on the money list, largely thanks to a great three months to end the season. Then, to finish the year, she was named the captain of the Pinx Cup team, and was given the chance to lead Korea against their arch rivals Japan.

Unfortunately, Kaptain Kang immediately made a terrible decision. The Pinx Cup teams have 13 members, but only 12 play each day. Most captains would sit the least talented player from the squad the first day, but Kang claimed that they were all pretty much equal. Therefore, she had all team members draw straws, and the loser sat for day one. The loser turned out to be Meena Lee, the third highest ranked player on the team from the LPGA.

Now, with all due respect to the wonderful members of the team from the KLPGA and JLPGA, there is NO WAY that they should have played while a player the caliber of Meena Lee sat. In the end, Korea and Japan tied for the Cup, but one can't help wondering if the result would have been different had Meena played. Hopefully in the future, should she again be the captain, Kangsy will not be prone to repeat such a mistake.