Corning Classic: Ace In the Hole

Here's a confession: Jimin Kang is one of my very favorite Korean golfers, even though she has barely appeared on television in the three years she has been pro. Of course, it helps that she grew up only a few miles from where I live, in the Seattle suburb of Edmonds, Washington. But I also like Jimin's style and personality. Simply put, she is good for the LPGA, and instantly gives the lie to the notion that all the Korean players are stolid and unemotional. Jimin is a firecracker on the course, playful off it. She loves talking to the media and messing with their minds a little bit. And on the course, she's as likely to talk to a fellow player or high five an audience member as she is to smile; and anyone who got a chance to watch Jimin in her brilliant victory at the 2005 Corning Classic will know that she smiles almost constantly. And why not? She is doing what she loves doing: not just playing golf, but entertaining fans, and the more fans that are watching her, the better. She is the second coming of Christina Kim.

But you would be forgiven for not ever having heard of Jimin before. Indeed, with the exception of Shi Hyun Ahn's utterly unexpected victory at the CJ 9 Bridges in 2003, it's hard to think of a more unlikely and obscure Korean winner of an LPGA tournament than Jimin. A little history is in order.

Jimin Kang with one of her trophies from her
stint on the Futures Tour in 2004

Jimin poses with another
trophy from the Futures Tour

Like a lot of Korean players, Jimin started playing the game in her native country, but her family and she decided at an early age that, in order to advance at the game, she would need to move to a Western country, where access to a golf course would be easier. They chose the United States, but you may stop for a moment and ponder their choice of cities in the States. Seattle is not known as a mecca for warm weather; it rains here probably about 7 months out of the year. Most Koreans, when moving here, would pick a destination like Phoenix, where Grace Park moved. A city where it's warm and sunny almost all year. So what was up with the Kangs? Why did they pick Seattle? Were they misinformed about the weather, like Rick in "Casablanca" was misinformed about the waters of that desert city?

No, the move was intentional. Her parents were determined that Jimin not end up another 'dumb jock'. If they moved her to Seattle, they reasoned, she would be forced to concentrate on her studies a significant portion of the year. She could still play golf enough during the nice weather. But education came first.

Jimin and her mother moved to the city of Edmonds, and Jimin enrolled at a local Christian high school there. Before long, Jimin began training at golf and became one of the best golfers in the State. After a brilliant victory at the State championship one year (her margin of victory was 21 strokes!), she attracted the notice of Safeco Insurance, who sponsored a local LPGA event called the Safeco Classic. They gave her an exemption into the 1999 Safeco Classic, where she got to meet Se Ri Pak, and she played well enough to make the cut. She had a ball, and became more determined than ever to make it out on tour some day.

Jimin ended up going to college at Arizona State University, the same school as one of her idols, Grace Park (although by the time she got there, Grace had already turned pro). Jimin stayed at the college for two years, during which she became one of the top amateurs in the country. But she had the misfortune of attending this PAC 10 school at a time when a superstar was attending a rival school across the state. Lorena Ochoa was her name, and at one point, she managed an unprecedented 8 consecutive wins in NCAA tournaments. When she finally lost (finishing second), the golfer who laid her low was none other than Jimin Kang.

Jimin decided to leave school after her sophomore year and turned pro. She played a couple of Futures Tour events, and had instant success: in fact, she won the first one she entered, again beating Ochoa, and finished fourth in the other one. Success in the pro ranks seemed assured. She attended the 2002 LPGA Q-School in the fall, and after three rounds was well within the score needed to get her exempt card. Everything was going as she had planned.

But then fate dealt her a setback. In the final round of Q-School, she shot a very uncharacteristic 78. This caused her to miss a card by a single shot. In her rookie year, she struggled. Having only nonexempt status, she was unable to get into many events. In the 2003 Q-School, she didn't even come close to getting an exempt card. Suddenly, the can't miss prospect looked all too human.

Jimin at this year's Chick-Fil-A
Charity Championship

Jeong Jang has many more top tens than Jimin,
but has yet to win an event

Jimin then decided to follow the example of her old rival Ochoa, and focused on the Futures Tour in 2004. It was a smart move. She would go on to win twice that year on tour, and finish on the top of the money list, which qualified her for the LPGA exempt card she had missed the two previous years at Q-School. For the first time in 2005, she would be fully exempt and able to play a full schedule.

And her results up to the Corning Classic in 2005 had been quite good. She managed her first ever top 20, a 19th, at the Michelob Ultra Open. In her next two events, she finished 23rd and 28th. Not spectacular, perhaps, but certainly a distinct improvement over her previous results. By this point she had already earned more money than she had in her two previous years combined, and sat 52nd on the money list. But as welcome as these achievements doubtless were to her, nothing about her game indicated that she was ready to win an event anytime soon. Get a top ten, yes; contend, sure; but win? Certainly that would be a while yet in coming. After all, there were many Korean players who had quite impressive resumes who had not yet won. Jeong Jang, for instance, had 9 top tens in 2004; Soo Yun Kang (her fellow Kang on tour, but no relation) had been the top KLPGA player for several years, and had notched several top tens on the LPGA tour. Aree Song was a much lauded teenager who had nearly won a Major in her rookie season. All of them had done much more in their careers than Jimin. But Jimin beat them all to the punch in getting to the winner's circle.

And of course, the big reason to suspect that the Corning Classic would not be Jimin Kang's first win: the presence of Annika Sorenstam in the field. Annika, the defending champion of the event, had only lost one tournament all year while winning four. If someone beat her, you would have to think it would be one of her supremely talented rivals in the field, such as Christina Kim or Hee-Won Han. But Jimin had a surprise for the world's number one player as well.

Jimin got out to a good start at Corning with a 3 under par 69, the same score Sorenstam shot, and the best score by a Korean player that day. But she was not the only Korean who managed an under par score on a day where scoring was not easy. A rookie named Meena Lee also shot a 69. Meena had been overshadowed in the Rookie of the Year race not only by Paula Creamer, but by several Korean rookies. Although she had been the KLPGA Player of the Year back in 2002, by 2003 she had been overtaken by Joo-Mi Kim (who is also a rookie on the LPGA tour in 2005), and had moved to America to try her luck at the Futures Tour. She had not had a great career there (she did not, unlike Jimin, secure an exempt card for 2005 there), but she did secure her exempt card at Q-School. In 2005, however, she had managed to miss almost every cut, and even when she made it, she finished in the 60s or 70s. Also like Jimin, her luck had recently started to turn around, and she managed her first top twenty at the previous event (a 20th, in fact). She seemed ready to take her game up a notch, but was she ready to contend? Again like Kang, it seemed like she would not be ready to do so, but would surprise us all.

Jimin during round 2