2005 Year in Review

July

Meena Lee at the HSBC Match Play Championship

Han at the Farr

Meena waves for the crowd in Canada

Victory for JJ at the year's fourth Major!

In-Kyung Kim hugs her US Girls Junior trophy

Bae in New Hampshire

Player of the Month: Jeong Jang
Event of the Month: Weetabix Women's British Open

July was chock full of important events, starting with a huge money match play tournament and ending with the final Major of the season. First up was the HSBC Women's World Match Play Championship. This event pitted the top 64 women golfers in the world against each other in match play competition. Se Ri Pak was given a special invite to participate, but didn't make it out of the first round. Indeed, most of the Korean golfers had faltered by the second round. There were 15 Sisters in the tournament. 8 lost in the first round, including Soo-Yun Kang, Hee-Won Han, Birdie Kim and Se Ri. In round 2, 4 more went bye bye, including Shi Hyun Ahn and Grace Park. When Jeong Jang and Christina Kim lost in round 3, that left only one Korean standing: rookie Meena Lee. Lee had already finished second at the Corning Classic earlier in the year, but it would take quite a lot for her to make it to the final match here. Yet she kept winning, beating Pat Hurst, then Wendy Ward, to advance to the final match against even lower seeded Marisa Baena. She took that match right to the final hole, but lost there 1 up. Still, her runner up check was worth $300,000, and vaulted her into the top ten on the money list.

The next event was the Jamie Farr Classic, and this time the Koreans really romped, with 4 of them ending up in the top five at the end of the week. Hee-Won Han looked like she had the inside track, but made several horrible miscues on the back nine on Sunday to finish tied for third. Jeong Jang also had her chances, starting the day in second place, but she wound up 5th. Rookie Sung-Ah Yim had a birdie putt to win the event outright, but missed that, then missed another putt to get into a playoff. She ended up third. The playoff was between yet another Korean, Gloria Park, and American Heather Bowie. But Gloria, despite some great putting, was not able to put away the pesky Bowie, and had to settle for second.

Meanwhile, Se Ri Pak, four time winner at the event, had her worst finish at the Farr since joining the LPGA, finishing in a tie for 36th.

The next week was the BMO Canadian Women's Open. This event was sparsely attended by the top players, giving the second tier ladies a chance to capture an important event. The highest ranked woman in the field was Meena Lee, in fact. The event, however, was dominated for much of its length by Janice Moodie, a Scottish golfer who had been mired in a deep career slump. But on Sunday, Moodie suddenly started making mistakes, while Meena went on a birdie binge on the back nine. Suddenly, Meena was at 10 under and in the lead. Meena finished at 9 under, then had to watch nervously as Moodie played the final hole with a chance to get into a playoff with a par. But she couldn't do it, and Meena had her first LPGA title and the third one for the Korean ladies in 2005. All three had been by first time winners.

Action then shifted to Europe for two huge tournaments, the Evian Masters in France and the fourth Major, the British Women's Open. The Evian Masters turned into a runaway win by rookie Paula Creamer; she probably cemented her Rookie of the Year status with that victory, right after Meena Lee had almost reeled her in. Meena made some good cash, though, with a fifth place finish, and Michelle Wie made no cash by finishing second (being an amateur and all).

The British was played this year at Royal Birkdale in the north of England. The weather was by and large typical for this event: rainy, windy and treacherous. Just the kind of conditions Jeong Jang loves. After the first round, JJ found herself in solo first place with a 4 under par 68. She continued to lead after round two, extending her lead to four shots, then to five after the third round. But looming right behind her was Annika Sorenstam, who was doubtless eager to win her third Major of the year after the disappointment of the US Women's Open.

But JJ held tough, and in the end it was Annika who played worse. JJ, meanwhile, shot her fourth round in the 60s and won by four shots over another Swede, Sophie Gustafson. Young Kim managed another good Major finish with a tie for third with the ubiquitous Michelle Wie. JJ then returned home to Korea for a victory tour unlike any other.

July also featured some exciting performances by junior golfers. The US Amateur Pub Links is one of the most important events in amateur golf every year. This year little known Eun Jung Lee prevailed over Tiffany Chudy of the US. Meanwhile, Michelle Wie (there's that name again!) made it all the way to the quarterfinals in the men's Pub Links. At the US Girls Junior, the final was an all Korean affair. In-Kyung Kim, who had come over to America for a few months to test her game against Americans, showed she has what it takes by getting to the finals against longtime Korean amateur star In-Bee Park. She then beat Park to take this most prestigious title. Undaunted, In-Bee petitioned the LPGA to grant her an exemption to their age rule so she could try to qualify for the tour. She was turned down, alas.

On the Futures Tour, Seon-Hwa Lee won her first event, the Albany Futures Golf Classic in Albany, New York. Lee didn't screw around: she shot 67-66 in the first two rounds, then on Sunday shot 6 under par... on the front nine! She cruised to a 7 shot win and tied the all time record for low score on the Futures Tour at 14 under par (the record is co-held by Lorena Ochoa and Christina Kim). Lee moved to the top of the money list. But then Kyeong Bae won again in New Hampshire, beating Lee, who was tied with her with just a few holes to go. This moved KB to second on the money list, just behind Lee.

Soo-Yun and a rare mistake at the Safeway

Soo-Yun cries after her win in Portland

Sun Young Yoo wins

August

Player of the Month: Soo-Yun Kang
Event of the Month: Safeway Classic

The LPGA kicked into gear again in mid-August with the Safeway Classic. This event had a Korean for a defending champion (Hee-Won Han), and has been a good spot for the Koreans to succeed over the years (Mi Hyun Kim beat Jeong Jang in a playoff there in 2000; Grace Park finished second there before joining the LPGA tour in 1999). But nothing prepared us for the 2005 edition. Koreans seized control of this event and did not let go. Even the qualifier for the event was a Korean American teenager named Rebecca Kim. After the first round, Han, Soo-Yun Kang and Sung Ah Yim were the three players in control. They played in the final group together on Saturday, and Kang continued on her roll. By Sunday, the leaders were Kang, Jeong Jang and Gloria Park. Everywhere you looked, Koreans were doing well; even Grace Park was having an unusually good week after struggling with injuries most of the year. In the end, there was an unprecedented sweep of the top five spots by Korean golfers. Soo-Yun Kang finally lived up to her promise by winning her first ever LPGA event. She was treated to a nice champagne bath by her good friends Grace and Birdie Kim, and Hee-Won, Kimmie and several other Korean gals also made sure to congratulate her on her achievement. In second place was Jeong Jang, still riding high from her Major win. Gloria Park finished third, Joo Mi Kim fourth and Sung Ah Yim tied for fifth.

Se Ri Pak had intended to play in this event as well, but had to drop out when it was revealed that the finger she had injured at the British Open (which had caused her to drop out there) was in fact broken. Shortly after that, she decided to call it quits for the year. She would end up having some discussions with the LPGA about whether or not she had attended enough events for it to qualify as an official season, but apparently she had.

On a roll, Soo-Yun next traveled to Ohio for the Wendy's Championship. She immediately shot a 66 to take the first round lead. She maintained the lead in round 2 (shooting a 66 despite a triple bogey on one hole), and after round 3 was only one shot out of the lead. But her final round was not so great, and she wound up finishing 6th. Meanwhile, Jeong Jang had yet another great finish, this time a 4th place. Young Kim made it three Koreans in the top ten when she finished 9th.

The Futures Tour, meanwhile, heated up. Lee and Bae were battling it out with Thai golfer Virada Nirapathpongporn for the Futures Tour money title. Then along came Sun Young Yoo. Yoo had earlier in the year led the money list, but had fallen back later. Now she won the Betty Puskar FUTURES Golf Classic in Morgantown, West Virginia, an event won the previous year by Jimin Kang. It was Yoo's first professional win, and it moved her to 4th on the money list.

The season came to a close at the end of the month, with three Koreans qualifying for the LPGA tour in 2006: Seon-Hwa Lee, who won the most money on tour; Kyeong Bae, who finished third; and Sun Young Yoo, who finished fifth.

September

Hee-Won at the Rail

Ga Na Lee

Christina at the Solheim.

Player of the Month: Christina Kim
Event of the Month: Solheim Cup

September started with the State Farm Classic, one of the last full field events on tour in 2005. The Rail Golf course is notorious for being one of the easier tracks on the LPGA tour; in 2004, Christina Kim had lost despite shooting better than 20 under par for the week. It wasn't particularly kind to the Koreans in 2005, however. The best finisher was Hee-Won Han, but even she was only able to finish in 7th place. Christina Kim only managed a 25th place, whereas in 2004 she had been second.

Some of the Koreans went to Korea instead of playing the Rail. Over there at the same time was a tournament called the Lordland Cup Maekyong Open. Among those featured in the field were four first time winners of LPGA tournaments in 2005 that were called the 'Four Cinderellas' by the press: Meena Lee, Soo-Yun Kang, Jeong Jang and Birdie Kim. Kang injured her wrist when falling coming out of the clubhouse during the practice rounds, and had to drop out after one round. But the others fought 'til the end. As it turned out, none of them won; the winner was the rising star Ga Na Lee. She touched out Bo Bae Song at the end. Birdie finished 5th, Jang 11th and Meena 22nd.

After the State Farm came the Solheim Cup, the biennial team competition between the best women golfers from Europe and America. For the first time, a Korean American had qualified for the team: Christina Kim. No one knew what to expect. Christina was obviously very talented, but she is perhaps better known as one of the biggest live wires on tour. Well, if anything, she proved to be even more of a firecracker than expected. When she was playing, hardly a play went by where she didn't fist pump, dance, scream, or cheer. And when she wasn't playing, she would cheerlead for her teammates, or lead spectators in songs, or jump up on coolers to rouse the audience into a frenzy. By the end of the event, she was the fan favorite for the team; no one doubted that her national pride and energy had been a major factor in willing the US to victory.

Meanwhile, Korean events kept going. The next one was the SK Enclean, taking place the same weekend as Solheim. The big names in that field were Shi Hyun Ahn and Gloria Park, but the winner was an amateur sensation named Ji-Ae Shin. Though only about 5 foot one, Shin can hit it a country mile, and her great skill helped to carry her to an easy victory over a tough field; only Kyeong Bae was even close to her.

The next event was the PAVV Invitational, two weeks later. By then the defending champion Soo-Yun Kang had healed from her hand injury, and so was able to defend her title. But she would be facing a tough field, including Meena Lee and Jeong Jang; Seon-Hwa Lee and Kyeong Bae; and Carin Koch and Laura Diaz, as well as the usual KLPGA stars. The winner was a rookie who would soon make a big name for herself: Hee Young Park, the eventual KLPGA Rookie of the Year. This was the event that moved her ahead of the presumed ROY, Na Yeon Choi. She never looked back.

Then they had the Shinsegae event, mysteriously only a couple of days after the PAVV ended. Young Kim was there to try to win the event that was sponsored by her chief sponsor, but she wound up 4th. Joo Mi Kim also gave it a shot, but finished second. The winner was Kyeong Bae, and this win cemented her lead on top of the KLPGA money list.

Back in the States the next LPGA event, the John Q. Hammons Classic, started in Oklahoma. But this was yet another win by Annika Sorenstam; the only Korean who played fairly well was (guess who?) Jeong Jang. She was making it a habit!