2005 Awards

Most Improved Player:
Soo-Yun Kang
Kang wins the award over the tightest competition of any of the awards in this article (see below for details). So why choose Kang? Well, before coming to America, Kang had had superstar written all over her. She was a dominating presence on the KLPGA tour, and had beaten virtually every top golfer in the world at some point or another (including Annika). Yet for some reason, she was never able to get it done at the same level on the LPGA tour. She had been promising enough in 2003 to merit a mention in ESPN the Magazine as a player to watch, but backslid somewhat in 2004. Even in 2005, she was having a good but not special season leading up to the Safeway Classic.

But that week in Portland changed everything for the charismatic star known as the Fashion Model of the Fairways. Something clicked, and after winning there in convincing fashion, she very nearly won again the following week at the Wendy's. Even an injury when she briefly returned to Korea did not slow her down much, and when she came back to the States, she notched a second place finish at the Office Depot. Only a couple of missed short putts prevented her from taking the ADT Championship as well; another second. And even when she was not firing on all cylinders, she was still notching top twenties.

She ended the season in 14th place, 20 spots better than ever before. But more importantly, the swagger was back. She told everyone her 'three year slump' was over, and based on her results after Safeway, 2006 could be a true breakthrough year for Kang.

(Interesting factoid: in 2002, Hee-Won Han finished just out of the top ten on the money list, and the next year finished 4th with more than a million dollars earned. Jeong Jang in 2004 finished 12th, and the next year finished 5th with more than a million dollars earned. Can Kang, who finished 14th in 2005, duplicate this trend? Stay tuned!).

Honorable Mention:
So many Korean golfers improved in 2005 that this was a bit difficult to choose. You could make a convincing case for Young Kim, who improved from 44th to 29th on the money list, or Birdie Kim or Jimin Kang, who went from out of the top 100 to winning events. But Young Kim's improvement wasn't as dramatic as Soo-Yun's, and Birdie and Jimin only had one or two great moments in 2005, and otherwise were not factors. Jeong Jang also deserves a mention for improving on an already great 2004 with a markedly better 2005, and Gloria Park had her first ever top ten finish on the money list despite not winning an event. Kudos to them all.

Soo-Yun Kang

Hee Young Park at the PAVV

Best New Young Player (Korea):
Hee Young Park
Hee Young Park came out of nowhere in 2005 to make her mark on the KLPGA. In the process, she has announced herself as a major talent to watch in the next few years.

At first, Park was having a perfectly respectable rookie year on the KLPGA, but was generally overshadowed by her more popular rival Na Yeon Choi. But the 18 year old Park persevered, and in September won the PAVV Invitational on the KLPGA against a host of tough challengers, including Bo Bae Song, British Open winner Jeong Jang, defending champ Soo-Yun Kang, Kyeong Bae, and LPGA stars Carin Koch and Laura Diaz. With that, she captured the lead in the Rookie of the Year race on the KLPGA, and never looked back, eventually winning it easily.

In October, she managed another eye opening result when she finished fourth at the CJ 9 Bridges Classic, the joint LPGA-KLPGA event played in South Korea. Among those in the field she beat were Annika Sorenstam and Paula Creamer. Later, she was selected by her peers as having the best golf swing among all Korean players, beating Se Ri Pak, Grace Park and Michelle Wie among others. Then she was chosen to play on the Pinx Cup team in December.

Hee Young has started 2006 right where she left off, winning an event in Taiwan, the Taiwan Open, beating LPGA star Candie Kung among others. For all these reasons, Hee Young was the most exciting young Korean star we were introduced to in 2005.

Honorable Mention:
Jee Young Lee
Winner of arguably the two biggest events in Korean women's golf, the Korean Women's Open and the CJ 9 Bridges Classic, she was not as consistent as Park, and lost the Rookie of the Year award to her. But she might turn out to be even better than Park when she plays on the LPGA tour as a rookie in 2006. Time will tell.

Best New Young Player (America)
Kyeong Bae
As mentioned previously, Kyeong Bae has been a pro for a long time, and she hasn't really been off the radar. So it's a little strange to call her a 'new player'. Her most impressive feat before 2005 had been winning the esteemed Korean Women's Open twice before the age of 18. But this category deals with a Korean player who made her first impact in America in 2005, and even though she played on the Futures Tour in 2004 and finished 8th, it was really 2005 where she began to shine over here.

Bae's biggest feat of 2005 was earning her LPGA tour card by finishing third on the Futures Tour in her second year. But there is more to that achievement than just that. Also included was her first victory in America, at the IOS Futures Golf Classic in El Paso Texas. She followed that up with another win at the Laconia Savings Bank Classic in New Hampshire. But what really impressed in 2005 was her consistency. She had many other chances to win besides those two events, constantly putting herself in contention week after week. She notched 12 top tens in 18 events and made all 18 cuts. 7 of those finishes were top fives.

But Kyeong's season was not finished. After earning her LPGA card, she returned to Korea, played in 7 of 11 events on the KLPGA tour, and ending up finishing first on the money list there, beating the formidable Bo Bae Song, who had played all eleven events. She notched another win there, at the Shinsegae event, beating Young Kim, Joo Mi Kim and Bo Bae among others. By the last event, she was in a position, with a win, where she could beat Se Ri Pak's all time record for most money won in the season. And remember, she only played seven events! She didn't break the record, but it was still an awesome performance. Bae finished the year playing at the Pinx Cup, where she won her match and continued to impress. Bae is young, but already a force to be reckoned with!

Honorable Mention:
Seon-Hwa Lee
Her record was almost as great as Kyeong Bae's. Even more consistent on the Futures Tour than Bae, she finished first on the money list. She wasn't as strong as Bae in Korea, but still won an event and finished third on their money list, ahead of Hee Young Park, despite only playing five events!

Kyeong Bae at the IOS Golf Classic

Bae reads a putt at the Laconia event

Meena with her Canadian Open trophy

Rookie of the Year:
Meena Lee
Not a hard choice, this one. At the start of the 2005 season, Meena Lee really struggled, missing more cuts than she made. She quickly dug a hole for herself against the other rookies on tour. But by May, she started playing better, and at the Corning Classic, came a bad swing away from possibly winning the event.

At that point, there were four Korean rookies who had distinguished themselves: Joo Mi Kim, Young Jo, Sung Ah Yim and Meena. But it seemed they took turns playing well, so no one of them was able to get a big lead on the others. Joo Mi had a great result at the Sybase; Young Jo challenged at the US Women's Open; Sung Ah put herself into contention at the Jamie Farr; and Meena nearly won the World Match Play, getting all the way to the finals.

Thanks to her huge check for finishing second at the World Match play event, she moved up to 7th on the money list; so she was clearly the richest of the four rookies. But the best? Or merely the one who had peaked at the right time? That was not so clear.

A little later, however, she went to the Canadian Women's Open, where she was the highest seeded player in the field. And she lived up to the seeding, by pulling off a clutch win for her first victory on the LPGA tour. Her third top two finish of the year put her into rarefied company, and finally at last separated her from the other Korean rookies. In the end, she managed to make nearly $900,000 on the season, finished second best among all Korean golfers on the money list at 7th (only Jeong Jang beat her), and achieved seven top tens (5 top fives), including a win. About all she wasn't able to achieve was Rookie of the Year, which Paula Creamer won easily by finishing second on the money list. But she was one of the top rookies in history to ever fail to win that award, and only Se Ri Pak herself had had a better rookie money list position than Meena achieved. Clearly and without doubt, Meena Lee earns our Rookie of the Year award.

Player of the Year:
Jeong Jang
Like with the Rookie of the Year award, this one was pretty much of a no-brainer. Only four Korean golfers have ever won a Major, and this year, JJ became one of them (the other three are Birdie Kim, Se Ri Pak and Grace Park). Hee-Won Han had a great year, carding 11 top tens, but Jeong Jang had the most top tens of any Korean in the league, with a very impressive 15 (in fact, that tied for most top tens by anyone in the league). Further, only four Koreans have ever had 15 or more top tens in a year: Se Ri, Grace, Mi Hyun Kim and JJ. Christina Kim made a lot of birdies last year, but who made the most birdies in 2005 on tour of any player? Jeong Jang. And by making more than $1 million last year, JJ became only the fifth Korean to break that mark in a year (joining the Big Four of Han, Kim, Park and Pak). That total made her the top Korean on the money list as well.

Indeed, it's hard to think of a way that JJ wasn't the top Korean on tour in 2005. OK, she wasn't the best Rookie, but that's because she's been on tour for a few years. And in those few years, she has gotten progressively better. She had a fantastic 2004, finishing 12th on the money list and moving herself into the elite group of Korean golfers previously the sole domain of the Big Four. Yet 2005 was a quantum leap beyond that; she proved that she deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as the Big Four; indeed, it is probably the Big Five now. She finally achieved her long overdue first win, and did it, like this site has often predicted, at a Major. She had several other good chances to collect a trophy, most notably at the Jamie Farr Classic, the Safeway Classic, the Sybase Classic and the CJ 9 Bridges Classic (she is indeed a 'Classic' girl!). And in general, she put herself on the leaderboard at tournament after tournament. In 2005, it was more surprising when she wasn't in contention than when she was.

Indeed, the only thing Jeong Jang has not achieved (as of this writing) is getting a sponsor for herself. Amazingly, considering what talent she has shown throughout the last two years, JJ is the only major Korean player without sponsorship (unless you count Christina Kim, but even she is supposedly working on that right now). Here's hoping some Korean company realizes what the Little Giant has contributed to Korean success in women's golf over the years, especially in the last two years, and extends her an offer. It would be money well spent, I'm sure!

Jeong Jang, the 'Little Giant', is SeoulSisters.com's
Player of the Year for 2005

JJ posed for students at her high school
when she returned there following
her Major victory