2005 Year in Review

April

In-Bee Park at the Takefuji

Grace Park in Thailand for the Tiger Skins Game;
she was followed by the press a lot while there!

Player of the Month: Shi Hyun Ahn
Event of the Month: Takefuji Classic

In April, the Koreans on the LPGA continued to struggle, but there were a few signs that they might soon make some more noise. Nobody really did much at the second LPGA event held in Mexico, the Corona Morelia Championship, except, surprisingly, Soo Young Moon. Moon had already notched a 10th place finish in 2005, and at this event she had her best ever finish, a third place. It looked like the youngster was on her way to a great season, but suddenly, she just... disappeared. Although news is hard to come by, her lack of event experience most of the year indicates that she was probably injured. Hopefully she'll be back fully healed in 2006.

Shi Hyun Ahn had a pretty weak season by her standards in 2005, but she did have one bright spot, and that came at the Takefuji Classic in Las Vegas. In the final round she shot a blistering 63 to climb all the way into the lead. It didn't last, though, and eventually she wound up third. But for a brief while, she looked like she might be able to win it. Also making a splash at this event was amateur In-Bee Park. In-Bee had finished 8th at the Takefuji in 2004, but in 2005 she did even better. She was legitimately in contention on the back nine, but a few bad breaks slowed her down and she wound up fifth. Two top tens in two tries, though, is pretty impressive, especially for a teenager.

Over on the Futures Tour, the Korean golfers were doing quite well. Moving to the top of the money list was rookie Sun Young Yoo, who managed several top finishes early on, but not yet a win. Seon-Hwa Lee, a second year player, was fourth on the list, and Jin Young Pak, who had won in March, was fifth. The top five players at the end of the year would gain exempt cards to the LPGA, so the Koreans were already well positioned for that race.

Grace Park, meanwhile, played in the Tiger Skins Game in Thailand. This event was a special one day affair designed to show that the Phuket area had recovered enough from the recent tsunami to again attract tourists. Grace was pitted against three male pros: Retief Goosen, Thomas Bjorn and Colin Montgomerie. Suffering from back problems early in the year, she wasn't able to win a Skin, but still impressed everyone (and earned a lot of press coverage as well!).

Se Ri struggled in Virginia at an event
she has won in the past

Gloria Park and Joo Mi Kim after Joo Mi had just shot the
best round of the day at the Sybase Classic

Soo-Yun hugs Hee-Won after their last round
at the Sybase Classic

Jimin Kang finally broke through at the Corning Classic

Kyeong Bae with her first career
Futures Tour trophy

May

Player of the Month: Jimin Kang
Event of the Month: Corning Classic

At the start of May, the struggles continued for the Seoul Sisters, while Annika continued to be virtually unstoppable. First came the Franklin American Mortgage Championship in Tennessee, ending May 1st. Christina Kim, who had not been doing all that well in 2005, finally broke through with her first top three finish of the year, and a few other Koreans did OK, but once again, no one was really challenging for the title.

The slump continued the next week at the Michelob Ultra Open. This event has been dominated by the Koreans since its inception: Se Ri Pak won it in 2003, and Grace Park in 2004. But nobody did much of anything in the 2005 edition. Grace finished just out of the top 10 in 12th place in her title defense, while Se Ri missed the cut horribly. The top finisher among the Koreans was Gloria Park in 6th, but fortunately for the LPGA Annika finally lost an event when Cristie Kerr claimed the title.

But Annika's 'slump' didn't last long as she won the very next week once again at the Chick-Fil-A, and no one was even close to her. The only Korean who managed a top ten this week was a most unexpected one: Birdie Kim (formerly Ju Yun Kim), who had never before finished in the top ten. She ended up 7th. It looked like the Korean slump would be around for a long long time.

But the very next week, things changed in a big way for the Seoul Sisters. The event was the Sybase Classic, contested as it is every year in New Rochelle, New York, just north of New York City. Something about this course just appealed to the Koreans, for they went from having only one player in the top ten in Atlanta to dominating the leaderboard here. Christina Kim shot the low round of the day on Thursday to take the first round lead, while Korean rookie Joo Mi Kim had her own career best 65 in round 2, the best round of that day. Grace Park climbed onto the leaderboard on Saturday despite a first round 77, and Gloria Park, despite a wrist problem that almost caused her to skip the event, was also in contention. Hee-Won Han, a former champ here, was also making noise, and Soo-Yun Kang was creeping back up the leaderboard after a second round 76 had derailed her somewhat.

In the end, though, this event was an agonizing missed opportunity for the Sisters. Tough conditions on Sunday tested the field, and leader Christina Kim could not cope. Jeong Jang, however, loves tough weather, and posted an impressive 67 to move to 5 under for the event. It was not enough, though, as rookie Paula Creamer played steadily, and made a birdie on the 18th hole to move to 6 under. Gloria Park could not match her birdie and also tied for second. But though Koreans did not win, they finally had broken through, with Joo Mi Kim 5th, Christina 4th, Mi Hyun Kim 7th and Soo-Yun Kang 8th, plus an additional 5 Koreans in the top 20. They did everything but win.

Which brings us to the final event of May, the Corning Classic. Annika was once again playing, and considering she had only lost once since the season had begun, it looked like it would be another romp for her here. But by the final round, it was two obscure Koreans who had taken the lead: rookie Meena Lee and Jimin Kang, who had never even managed a top 20 before. The final round was full of excitement, highlighted by a shot for the ages: Jimin made a hole-in-one to move into the lead on the 15th, and nearly jumped out of her shoes with joy. Meena and Jimin continued to trade blows, but in the end Jimin won, flashing her million dollar smile at every opportunity. A fantastic achievement for her. The slump was at last broken for the Koreans! Meena finished tied for second with Annika, and Hee-Won Han finished 4th.

On the Futures Tour, Kyeong Bae won her first event on that tour to take over the lead on the money list, but ended up in second by the end of the month. Meanwhile, in Korea, the Korean Women's Open was won by a virtually unknown rookie named Jee Young Lee. It would not be the last time Ms. Lee would make an impact on women's golf in 2005. Then came the X-CANVAS Women's Open, which was won this year by Juli Inkster; Na Ri Kim and a 15 year old amateur named Hee Young Choi tied for second place.

The saddest news came when the LPGA decided to shut down their message board. But not to worry, an intrepid SeoulSisters fan started up another one, which soon became the official Seoul Sisters message board.

June

Young Kim at the LPGA Championship

Birdie Kim with a very large trophy

Player of the Month: Birdie Kim
Event of the Month: US Women's Open

First up in June was the ShopRite Classic in Atlantic City, New Jersey. To no one's surprise, Annika once again claimed a title, her fifth of the year. And she crushed the field in doing so. But at least one player managed her own bit of history. Jimin Kang, fresh off her win in Corning, shot a career best 62 in the final round that included a 27 on the back nine (6 birdies and an eagle). No one in LPGA history had ever shot a 27 before for nine holes. So look for Jimin Kang's name in the record books. Alas, even with that score, she only finished 7th, but that was still good enough for her second best career LPGA finish.

The year's second Major, the LPGA Championship, was contested June 9-12. As usual, Annika Sorenstam put her stamp on the event, and going into the final round, had a sizable lead over the field. But a surprising Korean pro was also in the mix: Young Kim, who was in solo second going into Sunday's action and played in the final group with Annika on Sunday. Alas, Young did not have a good day, and fell all the way to a tie for 7th with Mi Hyun Kim and Gloria Park. This opened the way for Michelle Wie to move up the leaderboard, finishing second, her best finish ever in a Major. There was some controversy about her even being in the field; this event had always been reserved for professionals only, but the event's sponsors, McDonald's, had twisted the LPGA's arms to get the amateur Wie into the field. No one doubts she has the talent to be there, as her results show; but it still left a bad taste that the rules were changed just to benefit one player (and the sponsors, of course). Some things just shouldn't be done.

The other news coming out of the LPGA Championship was that Se Ri Pak, for the first time in her LPGA career, missed a cut at a Major. That it came in an event she had won twice was particularly unfortunate.

Next was the Wegman's Rochester LPGA. The Koreans have done well at this event historically, but this year not so much. Jeong Jang managed to finish 4th, but still 7 shots behind the winner Lorena Ochoa.

However, the next event after that, at the end of the month, was the biggie: the US Women's Open, the most important event on the schedule every year. Annika was coming into this tournament having won the first two legs of the Grand Slam, so naturally all eyes were on her. But she never was able to get anything going all week, and finished well back in the field. In fact, most of the top players struggled, and so by Sunday, Michelle Wie was in fact tied for the lead. Paula Creamer and Morgan Pressel, two other young Americans, were also in the mix. Young Kim and Young Jo were among the Koreans still a few shots from the lead and in contention.

One other Korean golfer was also in contention: Birdie Kim. But she had only one career top ten to her credit, the finish at the Chick-Fil-A in May. She would have seemed to have been the least likely player to play tough, but on Sunday, that's just what she did, and by the back nine, she had captured the lead. It all came down to the 18th hole, and the bunker shot for birdie that won it all for her, one of the greatest shots in the history of golf. She became just the third Korean to win a Major after Se Ri Pak, who had four, and Grace Park. If Jimin Kang had been an unlikely winner, what did that make Birdie Kim? A Cinderella. And a very wealthy one at that!

Meanwhile, over in Korea, Na Yeon Choi, a rookie pro, won her first event on tour, the Lakeside KLPGA event. Kyeong Bae dropped to 3rd on the Futures Tour money list, with Seon-Hwa Lee fifth.