2006 KOLON-Hana Bank Championship

The success of the Korean women golfers on the LPGA tour over the last few years has truly been astounding and unprecedented. Not only have they won a lot of tournaments, and made a lot of money, the sheer number of good and great golfers coming from that country is phenomenal. Seemingly a new great Korean golfer arises every few months, and more than a dozen have captured wins on the LPGA tour in the past four years.

The Korean people, meanwhile, have embraced their galaxy of new stars, resulting in a great new source of revenue for the LPGA. Koreans pay the largest rights fees for broadcasting LPGA tournaments of any country in the world, and they are also one of the top sources of income for official merchandise.

Korean corporations have also stepped up and funded several tournaments over the years. Samsung is the official sponsor of the World Championship, an elite field event that occurs every Autumn (read about this year's edition elsewhere in this issue), while television network SBS sponsors an event in Hawaii at the start of the year. In a gesture showing just how much the LPGA values Korea, they offered them their very own official LPGA event back in 2001. Korean corporation CJ stepped up as the sponsor, and the CJ 9 Bridges Classic was born.

As it turned out, the event was not staged in its first year, due to the recent invasion of Afghanistan by the US. But in 2002, the event debuted, and the Korean fans and media were delirious. The ladies, both Korean and foreign, were treated like big stars, particularly the top players like Se Ri Pak, the legendary star who had started the Korean golf explosion, and Annika Sorenstam. Pak treated the faithful to the best possible conclusion to the event when she claimed the title in front of the brave fans who turned out in frigid temperatures to cheer her on. The fledgling event was a success.

The next year, the results couldn't have been more surprising. Each year, the LPGA allows the top KLPGA players to participate in the event, but most thought that was just a courtesy, a way to generate even more interest for the tournament from the locals. Certainly, no one thought that a KLPGA player would ever be much of a threat to actually win the trophy, especially with so many of the top Korean players now permanently playing on the LPGA itself. But in 2003, after the first round of play, a somewhat unknown KLPGA player was in fact sitting at the top of the leaderboard: Shi Hyun Ahn. The attractive and spunky 19 year old continued to hang on to the lead despite pressure from defending champion Pak and top British star Laura Davies, and put an exclamation point on her week when she made an eagle on the final hole to capture the crown. It was the first time in years that a nonmember of the LPGA tour won an official tournament, and with her win came instant celebrity, lucrative endorsements, and a two year membership on the LPGA tour. Ahn also gained the nickname 'Cinderella' for the sudden way her life had changed. It was a story that captured the imagination of the fans in her home country.

In 2004, the winner of the tournament was another Korean superstar, Grace Park, but last year once again it was a KLPGA tour player who captured the crown. Jee Young Lee was a young player who had stunned her league a few months earlier by winning the Korean Women's Open, arguably the most important event on the KLPGA tour. Other than that, however, she had been rather unremarkable in her rookie season, and few were thinking she would be the second KLPGA Cinderella in three years. But by the middle of the tournament, she had climbed to a staggering eight shot lead over the field, and though she stumbled a bit after that, still won the event with ease. Just like Ahn, Lee gained a two year exemption on tour, and in her rookie year has played brilliantly, sitting at 20th on the money list as she prepared to defend her title this year.

Entering its fifth year, this event saw a few changes. For one thing, the venue changed from Cheju Island and the 9 Bridges Golf Course to the Mauna Ocean Club in Yangnam. The sponsor also changed, and thus the name of the event. CJ ended its run as the top sponsor, and in their place was Kolon - a company that among other things sponsored Shi Hyun Ahn - and Hana Bank. The Kolon-Hana Bank Classic became the new name of the tournament.

But one thing the fans were hoping would not change was the success rate of the Korean golfers. In the four years the event has existed, Koreans have won every year. Twice the winner was a Korean superstar on the LPGA, twice an unknown KLPGA Cinderella. Would a Korean make it five for five, and if so, which type of player would claim the trophy?

On the LPGA side, Hee-Won Han was coming in the hottest. She had just completed a decisive victory in Thailand at the Honda LPGA Thailand event. It was her second win of the year, and Hee-Won has a tendency to run off one great finish after another when she gets hot. She looked primed to continue her streak in her home country. On the Monday before the event, she appeared at the local Lotte Department store on behalf of her sponsor Fila Korea to meet and greet her fans. But shortly after that, she was on the new course preparing for a possible run at the title.

Jeong Jang had been wildly inconsistent leading up to this week. She had won the Japan Women's Open, a Major on the JLPGA, but then played poorly at the Samsung. Se Ri Pak had not even played that much in the last month and a half, but whenever she comes back to her home country, it's a big deal. And many of the other top Koreans, like Mi Hyun Kim, had been in slumps themselves. So it was pretty hard to predict which LPGA star might rise to the occasion during the tournament.

More than a dozen KLPGA players were invited to participate in the event. The one the Korean media had their eye on was Ji Yai Shin. Shin, an 18 year old rookie, has taken the league by storm this year. She has won twice, and finished in the top five in more than half the events she has played. She has also broken Se Ri Pak's long-standing record for most money won in a single season, which had lasted for nearly ten years before Shin came along. Interestingly, the tournament organizers decided to pair Shin and Pak together in the first round. For Shin, it was a dream come true, as Pak was her greatest idol. For the media, it was a wonderful chance to see the legendary Pak paired with one of the young guns who might succeed her as the preeminent Korean star in the golf world.

But there were more KLPGA players than just Shin in the field. Hee Young Park, #2 on the money list, would be there. Many thought she was going to be the top player in 2006, but as well as she has played, she still has been thoroughly outclassed by her younger rival. Bo Bae Song, the two time Player of the Year, and Na Yeon Choi were among the other stars present. Also playing were three KLPGA golfers who had decided to try to qualify for the LPGA in 2007 via Q-School: Hyun Hee Moon (pictured), Hae Jong Kim and Eun Hee Ji. Doubtless any one of those women would have loved to win this tournament and make that qualifying chore unnecessary.

There was another KLPGA player in the field who did not get a lot of attention at first: Jin Joo Hong. Hong has been on tour for a few years, but 2006 has been a real breakout season for her. Before this year, her claim to fame was winning the KLPGA's award for Best Dresser in 2005 (yes, they have an award like that!). Over the Winter break, Hong decided to work harder on her game to see how much she could improve. After a slow start, she really started to see the results in the second half of the KLPGA season. The highlight of her year leading into the KOLON had come at the SK Enclean Solux Invitational. She played brilliantly at this KLPGA event, leading wire to wire and increasing her lead each day. She won the tournament by seven shots, the largest winning margin of the year. Coming into this event, she was certainly one of the more confident KLPGA players in the field.

The festivities before this event are often quite involved, but this year things were a little more subdued. They did, however, have a sponsor's dinner during the week, and many of the Korean golf stars showed up. As you can tell from the enclosed photos, some of the top stars sat at a central table, and they were the focus of much press coverage as a result. Among those at this table were Grace Park, Soo-Yun Kang, Hee-Won Han, Meena Lee, Jee Young Lee (the defending champion), and Se Ri Pak. Se Ri even gave a toast at one point. Speaking of Lee, she also found herself the focus of quite a lot of attention before the tournament. It was one year ago that her life changed when she won this very event, in the process gaining an exemption to play on the LPGA tour. Her rookie year there has been quite impressive indeed. Could she possibly become the first two time winner of this event?