2006 Honda Thailand

Without a doubt, the influx of golfing talent from Korea to the LPGA has been an unprecedented event in the sport's history. More than fifteen Korean golfers who currently play on tour have won an event in the last five years, an extraordinary achievement. No other Asian country, including powerhouse golfing nation Japan, has been able to come near to this achievement. But while the Koreans have been dominating, other Asian countries have nonetheless sent representatives to play over here as well. There's every reason to believe that their time may soon be coming as well.

Japan leads the way among the other Asian nations. They not only have young potential superstars like Ai Miyazato and Shinobu Morimizato, they have gradually started to send more players to play over here in general. For a long while, it seemed like most of the top players from that country focused on the robust women's tour over there. But with Miyazato's move to America, arguably the top star on that tour now spends most of her time over here. Japan's success on the American tour is nothing new. The first Asian player to ever win a Major on the LPGA was in fact a Japanese player, Chako Higuchi, who has since been named to the World Golf Hall of Fame. Another Japanese golfer, Ayako Okamoto, won 17 times on tour, and was the winningest Asian player in LPGA history until Se Ri Pak came along. She did do something Se Ri has yet to do: top the LPGA money list, which she did in 1987 (she was the first non-American player to ever do so). As recently as 1999, Akiko Fukushima gave Mi Hyun Kim a great battle for the Rookie of the Year award. But since then, the Japanese players have laid low, not having too much success on tour. With Miyazato and Morimizato, they at last have two representatives who can challenge the best the LPGA has to offer. More are coming.

But other Asian countries have also produced solid players in the last half dozen years. From Taiwan comes Candie Kung, who has won three times on the LPGA tour. Yu Ping Lin is another good golfer from that island nation. The Philippines can claim Jennifer Rosales, who has won twice on tour. And more recently, Thailand has become a source of promising talent. Aree and Naree Song are half Korean and half Thai, and Aree in particular has managed some excellent finishes in her still young career, even nearly winning a Major a few years ago. Top Thai golfer Virada Nirapathpongporn has also joined the LPGA, fresh off her second place finish on the Futures Tour money list in 2005.

This year, the LPGA rewarded this up and coming golf nation with its first ever official tournament, sponsored by Honda, called the Honda LPGA Thailand. Virada and Aree Song attended and were naturally feted by the fans, who were thrilled to get a chance to cheer their heroes on in person. Also attending was Thai-American standout Stacey Prammanasudh. They were joined by several Thai golfing stars, who were given a chance to test themselves against the best of the best.

Naturally, being the event was in Asia, a full contingent of Korean LPGA stars also journeyed to Bangkok to compete. It had not been a good few months for those players, many of whom were struggling with injuries or weariness or both. One of the injured ones was Shi Hyun Ahn. The popular player was eager to get back into the swing of things, and chose Thailand to do it. Before her injury, she had been having a comeback season of sorts, even nearly winning the LPGA Championship, and also putting together a top ten at the US Women's Open. But she had been forced to drop out of the Match Play Championship due to injury, and had not played at all since a 25th place finish at the Women's British Open in August. Mi Hyun Kim had been struggling a bit in the previous few months, but she was used to playing in Thailand: she goes there every winter to train. Hee-Won Han had been hot earlier in the year, even notching five straight top five finishes including a win, but had not done much of note in the last few months. Gloria Park was another top Korean who had somewhat underperformed in 2006, but was hoping to set herself on the right track this week.

Most of the LPGA players in the field at this tournament had never played a professional round of golf in Thailand, and didn't know what to expect. This course presented two interesting challenges. The first was the 17th hole, which has the only true island green in all of Asia. Indeed, the only way for players to get to the green was to take a ferry! The second challenge was the heat. The players had played in Arizona and southern California, but nothing could have prepared them for the blazing heat they faced the entire weekend on this course outside of Bangkok. One of the top challenges was to stay cool and hydrated.

The field was not the deepest the LPGA players would face all year, so the few top players that were present had a golden opportunity to grab a win, provided they could rise to the challenge. Likewise, the players who had never before won tournaments also had a good chance to break through with their first victory. On the first day, it was one of those players who made the biggest splash. Nicole Castrale had gotten to the tour by doing well on the Futures Tour. Although she had occasionally contended in her short LPGA career, she had never won an event. But after the first round, she found herself in the lead, thanks to a 7 under par 65. Fellow American Heather Young also produced a 65 on this day, but unlike Castrale, she had experienced victory before: she had won the 2005 Jamie Farr Kroger Classic, defeating Gloria Park in a playoff.

The Korean contingent got off to a good start, and a bunch of stars who had not been doing all that well of late staked an early claim for the trophy. Gloria Park shot a solid 3 under par 69 to claim a share of tenth place. Meena Lee, who had been extremely inconsistent since losing to Hee-Won Han at the Corning Classic in May, got out to a great start with a bogey free 6 under par 66. This made her the top Korean golfer after day one. Hee-Won Han, meanwhile, showed signs that she was emerging from her slump. She shot a 5 under par 67.

Meanwhile, a newbie professional made a nice splash in her first LPGA event since turning pro. Jane Park (pictured above) had had a fantastic amateur career which included a win at the US Women's Amateur in 2004 and a runner up finish at that same event in 2003 (ironically, she finished second to Thai star Virada Nirapathpongporn). She capped off her amateur days with a tie for tenth, and low amateur status, at the 2006 US Women's Open, and a successful run at the Curtis Cup in August. Jane attended the first LPGA Sectional qualifier in California, and easily advanced to the finals. But winning this event would make going to Q-School unnecessary. After a bogey free 4 under par 68, she was well on her way to doing just that.

Castrale continued her great play on day two. She shot a 4 under par 68, which included birdies on her first four holes, and finished with an 11 under par total. This left her with a two shot lead with one round to go. But fellow first round leader Heather Young did not have it as good on Saturday, shooting a 73 to fall to solo 6th place. Meanwhile, a number of Korean and Korean American stars moved into position behind Castrale to possibly challenge. Hee-Won was the best positioned. She produced a 4 under par round herself to move to 9 under and solo second. She was one under par on the front nine, thanks to two birdies and a bogey. She really caught fire, however, on the back nine. She birdied 10, 11, 13 and 14 to move to 10 under par. Even a bogey on 16 proved to be only a minor setback. What was most encouraging for Han was that she produced this score despite two three putts. If she could just get her putting under control, the rest of her game seemed ready to carry her to victory. And she would be able to use her vastly greater experience on Sunday to put pressure on the inexperienced Castrale. It was a great position for her to be in.

The best score of the day, however, was turned in by a Korean American, and it wasn't Jane Park. The newly minted pro Park had a good day, an even par 72, but that actually caused her to lose ground. She wound up tied for 12th. No, the sizzling Korean American was Christina Kim, who carded a 6 under par 66 to vault up to third place and a 8 under total. She did most of her damage on the front nine. She had her only bogey of the day on hole 8, but she also had birdies on holes 1, 3, and 6, and an eagle on 7 when she two putted from 45 feet. She had two more birdies on the back nine, including an iron on hole 16 that she hit to a couple of inches. When she came into this season, she had a lot of hope that it would be her best year yet. She had trimmed down and was in the best condition of her life. But she had not been able to get much of anything going in 2006. Her play the first two days offered her a good chance to turn things around.