2006 KOLON-Hana Bank Championship

Some other Korean stars also had good weeks. Soo-Yun Kang has had a terrible season in 2006, thanks largely to a recurring neck injury. But this week was a good one for her. On the final day, she shot a 4 under par 68 and just missed her first top ten of the year, finishing 11th. Gloria Park has also struggled in 2006, but she had a great finish in Thailand, and notched a 9th place here. That put her temporarily in the lead in the ADT Asian swing contest. The player not already qualified who played the best in the three Asian tournaments would earn a berth into the season ending ADT Championship. Gloria was in the lead after the first two legs of the Asian swing, but struggled in Japan, allowing Brittany Lang to capture the exemption. Hee-Won Han, meanwhile, continued to struggle after her solid start to the week, shooting a 2 over par 74 on the final day and finishing tied for 13th.

Mi Jung Hur started the final day with a chance to make history. It was not to be, however. She made two bogies and one birdie on the front nine, then two more bogies and two birdies on the back nine. Her one over par 73 left her tied for 6th with Paula Creamer and Jee Young Lee. It might not have been a win, but it was a very impressive result nonetheless. And it gave her the best finish for an amateur in an LPGA event all year. The young star should gain confidence from her great play against a star studded field.

With Jin Joo Hong starting the day with a four shot lead, someone was going to have to go low to put a little pressure on her if they wanted to have any chance. Hong had already proved that she could be a strong front runner in her first win earlier. The player who took that shot was Jeong Jang, the other player with the initials 'JJ' in contention. JJ was once again on an upturn, and was two under on the front nine to move to 6 under total. That was impressive, but unfortunately for her, Hong was not giving an inch. She made three birdies and one bogey on the front nine to move to 11 under and increase her lead to five shots. By the time they reached the 15th hole, it was pretty much all over. JJ was still at 6 under, tied with Se Ri for second, while Hong was at 12 under. Jang then made a little run, birdieing 16 and 17 to move to 8 under and give herself solo second place. It was her third second place finish of the year and 12th top ten; it also allowed her to climb over the million dollar mark for season earnings for the second straight year. She has continued to have a marvelous season, but on this day, it just wasn't enough.

Exactly like at the SK Enclean, Hong dominated the proceedings all day and was never really in danger of losing. She put another birdie on the board at 17 and regained a five shot lead. On 18, she had a weird mental lapse, missing some easy putts to card a double bogey, but she was so far ahead by that point that it didn't matter. She had become the third KLPGA player in the last four years to claim this title. This made her just the 15th player in LPGA history to win an LPGA event without being a member of the tour. What's most amazing about this statistic is this: during the Korean era, this feat has only been accomplished three times, and all three times it happened at this event when KLPGA golfers won. That says something about the quality of the golfers on this tour. The JLPGA, for instance, has not produced a winner at the Mizuno Classic in the same time span. Perhaps the people who compile the world rankings should take this into account, as Hong, one of the top golfers on the KLPGA, was so far down in the world rankings that she leapt more than 70 spots thanks to this win, and yet still is outside the top 50 in the world. Meanwhile, there were three JLPGA golfers in the top 20 in the World rankings at the time.

After her win, Jin Joo received the ceremonial outfit and trophy. In the past few years, CJ has given the victor a traditional Korean hanbok to wear at the trophy ceremony, but this year the outfit looked more like something out of House of Flying Daggers than a Korean outfit. The trophy, too, had undergone a radical redesign when sponsors changed. At the CJ they presented a gorgeous porcelain trophy done in classical style, but here they gave out an ultra modern trophy that looked more like a set of tile samples one might see at Home Depot. But if Hong was looking forward to something more traditional, she didn't show it. She was thrilled to be receiving the hardware, and even when Jeong Jang and Joo Mi Kim sprayed her with beer during the trophy presentation (!), she took it like a good sport.

Her win gave her a two year LPGA card: nonexempt membership in 2007 and full exemption in 2008. But amazingly, she was still not sure she wanted to take it. She had her heart set on playing in Japan and living with her mother, whom she had not lived with in many years. She told the press that she would think hard about what she would do in the next week, then let everyone know. Fortunately, her mother convinced her that this was a once in a lifetime opportunity that she should not let pass, and by the time she attended the Tournament of Champions a few weeks later, she had decided to give the LPGA a try. So the glamorous 2005 KLPGA Best Dresser will be heading our way in 2007. If the success of Cinderella Shi Hyun Ahn and Cinderella 2.0 Jee Young Lee is any indication, Cinderella 2006 Jin Joo Hong should do just fine.